Charges: 2 teens among 3 who lured drug dealer into deadly trap at Twin Cities riverfront apartments

Two teens are among three people charged with luring a drug dealer to a riverfront apartment building north of downtown Minneapolis and fatally shooting him, sending the victim’s vehicle crashing into the complex, according to charges.

Jayce Nasir Cuff, 20, of Minneapolis, was charged Monday in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree intentional murder in connection with the shooting of Davione Daunte Charles Collins, 27, of Maple Grove, on April 19.

After being shot, Collins’ vehicle struck the garage door of the Peregrine Apartments at West River Road and North Broadway, which overlooks the Mississippi River and downtown.

Charged in juvenile court as accomplices are Darnail Arnez LaBrec, 17, of Brooklyn Center; and Cassius Duane Hodrick, 16, of Minneapolis.

In their young lives, Cuff and LaBrec both have violent criminal histories involving guns, according to court records.

On Friday, police arrested Cuff in St. Paul and LaBrec in Brooklyn Center. Cuff remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a Tuesday afternoon court appearance.

LaBrec also remains in custody as his case moves forward. Hodrick has yet to be arrested, Police Sgt. Garrett Parten said late Tuesday morning.

The County Attorney’s Office has indicated its intention to have their cases moved to adult court.

“This shooting occurred in the parking lot of a large, occupied apartment building,” Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a statement released Monday night. “This targeted attack showed a complete disregard for the sanctity of human life. That an adult and [juveniles] appear to be involved in this apparent hit is especially troubling.”

According to the charges:

Officers sent to the apartment complex about 10:15 p.m. saw a car that had crashed into an underground garage door. The driver was dead from a gunshot wound to the neck. The vehicle had bullet holes indicating the gunfire came from several angles.

Cuff and LaBrec “participated in the killing” of Collins, and “were assisted” by Hodrick, the charges read.

Police found inside the car a large amount of marijuana packaged into smaller amounts for sale, and a digital scale.

A later police search of LaBrec’s phone turned up photos of him inside the apartment building and holding a handgun that was manipulated to be an automatic weapon. Also in the phone was a text conversation from the night before indicating an intention to rob someone of drugs.

A search of Collins’ phone by police revealed texts messages about him selling a quarter-pound of marijuana and directing him to go behind the apartment building. A Cash App search implicated Hodrick, who lives at the Peregrine Apartments, as the supposed purchaser who was acting on behalf of Cuff and LaBrec.

Surveillance video captured Collins arriving outside the apartment building and stopped. Two people stood by the driver’s side window, and shots were fired. As the car rolled down toward the garage entry, the shooters ran into the building as Hodrick held the door open for them.

Cuff’s extensive history of violent crime includes being one of four teenagers charged with robbing Bryn Mawr Market in December 2021 in Minneapolis. A cashier was pistol-whipped and shot in the stomach. Those same teens were charged with the armed robbery of an Amstar gas station in Minneapolis the night before the market holdup.

Cuff pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery in those cases and had a four-year prison sentence stayed until his 21st birthday in 2026. He was placed on probation and sent to the West Central Regional Juvenile Center to complete rehabilitation programming.

In 2023, he pleaded guilty to fleeing police after he was spotted driving a car that was carjacked. Cuff fled at speeds of 101 miles per hour on interstates 94 and 35W.

LaBrec has had at least four criminal cases in juvenile court, dating to 2022. Last year, he pleaded guilty to illegal firearm possession after police searched his home and car and found a loaded handgun. The search was tied to someone flashing a gun at Unity Foods in Minneapolis. He was sent to the state juvenile detention facility in Red Wing to participate in programs for young offenders.

He was released from that program on March 25 and was on probation at the time of the Peregrine Apartments shooting.

There is no juvenile criminal history for Hodrick, who turned 16 on April 10. In Minnesota, juvenile criminal charges for people under age 16 are not publicly available.