Police arrest suspected shooter accused of unleashing deadly barrage in 2022 as Mpls. bars closed

A manhunt lasting more than 2½ years has ended with the arrest of a man charged with unleashing deadly gunfire in a crowded downtown Minneapolis parking lot as bars were emptying one summer night.

Casey Jermar Davis, 30, of St. Paul, was arrested Thursday afternoon by Minneapolis police in connection with the shooting on July 28, 2022, that killed 20-year-old Chante L. Williams, of St. Paul, and wounded two people in the 300 block of 1st Avenue N.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Davis two months after the shooting with one count each of second-degree murder and illegal gun possession, and two counts of second-degree attempted murder. The criminal complaint was kept under a court-ordered seal until Friday in order to not alert Davis that he was a wanted man.

Davis remains jailed in lieu of $1.5 million bail ahead of a March 18 court appearance. His attorney declined to comment Monday regarding the allegations.

Co-defendant Cleveland Cornell Longmire, 31, of Brooklyn Center, was sentenced in August 2024 to a term topping 11 years. With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Longmire is expected to serve roughly 6¼ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

Longmire said Davis shot Williams and then “took out his cellphone and took a photograph of [Williams’] lifeless body” before getting in a vehicle and leaving the scene, the complaints against both men read.

In January 2024, Longmire was sentenced in federal court to 7½ years in prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm stemming from his actions on the night of the shooting. He will serve the two sentences concurrently.

According to the state charges against both men:

Officers were dispatched in response to an altercation and saw a crowd in a parking lot next to Dulono’s sports bar. Two minutes later, they heard rapid gunfire and saw three people fall to the pavement.

From a distance of 8 to 12 feet, Davis shot Williams seven times in the back and the back of the neck. The other victims were each hit five times by gunfire. Williams died at the scene. The other two survived.

Officers found nearly two dozen .40-caliber discharged cartridge casings near Williams’ body and three from a 9-millimeter gun. A loaded 9-millimeter handgun also was near him and appeared to not have been fired.

Also nearby was an SUV belonging to Longmire. Officers seized two Glock handguns from inside, one a .40-caliber and the other a 9-millimeter that DNA evidence tied to him. The .40-caliber was outfitted with an “auto sear,” allowing it to fire multiple times with a single trigger squeeze.

Bar interior video images put Longmire and Davis, both suspected members of the same street gang, in the establishment during the altercation.

Davis' criminal history includes at least two gang-related convictions, one for a felony riot offense and another for his role in a conspiracy to distribute guns.

Longmire’s criminal history includes three first-degree aggravated robbery convictions in Ramsey County.