An 18-year-old man has been charged with shooting two 13-year-olds in St Paul, Minnesota, after an alleged online dispute, and later boasting about the attack during a group phone call, according to a criminal complaint.
Jerry D’John Anthony Sanders faces three felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon over the incident on Tuesday, 1 September 2026. He is being held under an order of detention.
St Paul shooting followed alleged online dispute
Police were called shortly after 2am to the 300 block of Aurora Avenue, where officers found a boy with a gunshot wound to his lower left leg and a girl with a graze wound to her left calf. Both victims were aged 13 and their injuries were not life-threatening.
The boy was taken to Regions Hospital after officers applied a tourniquet. The girl was assessed by paramedics but did not require hospital treatment.
A third juvenile was with them as the group walked along Marion Street after being refused service at a McDonald’s drive-through because they were not in a vehicle. The complaint says one of the teenagers received a FaceTime call from Sanders before the call ended suddenly.
The group then heard about five gunshots from the direction of an apartment building on Charles Avenue. As they ran towards University Avenue, two of them were struck before all three returned to Aurora Avenue and waited for police.
Investigators found four spent cartridge cases near the junction of Marion Street and Sherburne Avenue. The complaint says later analysis linked the ammunition to a firearm associated with several shootings in Minneapolis.
One of the teenagers told officers the suspected gunman was known as “Fat J” and provided an address, telephone number and social media details. Police compared photographs from Instagram and Facebook with a state driving-record image and identified the suspect as Sanders.
The teenager also told investigators that he and Sanders had been involved in an ongoing online dispute, including insults directed at each other’s deceased relatives. He believed the argument may have contributed to the shooting.
According to the complaint, a concerned citizen later joined a group call with Sanders. During the call, Sanders allegedly said: “I just blew your homie down,” before describing firing 11 shots and chasing the group.
In a separate FaceTime call, Sanders allegedly showed a handgun with an extended magazine while appearing to be on a Metro Transit bus in downtown Minneapolis.
Police recover two firearms
Investigators used social media records and mobile-phone location data to place Sanders near Marion Street and Charles Avenue at the time of the shooting, and later at an apartment on Rice Street in St Paul.
Officers arrested him there on 3 September after executing a search warrant. They recovered a Smith & Wesson MP9 handgun, which had been reported stolen in New Brighton, and a P80 ghost gun with a 31-round magazine concealed inside a clothes dryer.
The complaint says the ghost gun was believed to have been used in the shooting. Its magazine capacity matched Sanders’s alleged comments during the phone call, while the weapon’s appearance was said to be consistent with descriptions provided by a witness and images from social media and apartment surveillance footage.
Sanders declined to speak to investigators. Each of the three charges carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, a fine of up to $14,000, or both.
