Teen, 15, admits to fatally shooting man on St. Paul streetcorner

A teenager has admitted to unleashing a deadly barrage of gunfire that killed a man near a St. Paul streetcorner last fall.

Nehemiah D Robinson Bowes, 15, of Fridley, pleaded guilty in adult court in Ramsey County to second-degree murder in connection with the shooting of 28-year-old Riccardo Anthony Fleming, of Walker, Minn., on Oct. 12 on a corner at the intersection of Woodbridge Street and Wheelock Parkway W.

Robinson Bowes committed the murder barely two weeks after his 15th birthday.

The plea agreement between the prosecution and the defense calls for a sentence between 16⅔ and 21¾ years. With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Robinson Bowes could be looking at roughly 10½ to 14 years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 5. In the meantime, Robinson Bowes remains in jail in lieu of $2.5 million bail.

According to the criminal complaint:

Officers were sent to the scene about 9:50 p.m. and saw Fleming on the ground. Medics took him to Regions Hospital, where he was declared dead. A Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy found Fleming had 11 gunshot wounds.

Two days later, Robinson Bowes’ father reported that a gun was stolen from a safe in his home. He said his son was the only other person who lives at the residence. On Nov. 6, police met with Robinson Bowes, who said he would not talk without a parent present.

Police met with Robinson Bowes again on Nov. 11, this time with his mother included through a phone call and gave this account:

Robinson Bowes said he and others went to a liquor store, then were hanging out in an apartment parking lot and drinking, when Fleming walked up to them. After a second trip to the liquor store, they all went to an apartment of someone identified in the complaint only as R.W.

While Fleming was in the bathroom, R.W. told Robinson Bowes that Fleming “gotta go.” Robinson Bowes said he could tell that R.W. was not kidding.

Fleming came out of the bathroom, and R.W. and another person left the apartment. Fleming asked Robinson Bowes whether there was a gun in the apartment, and Robinson Bowes said yes.

Once outside the apartment complex, R.W. was present and gave Robinson Bowes a look. Robinson Bowes then shot Fleming with his father’s gun.

The next day, Robinson Bowes took an Uber back to his father’s house and hid the gun in a duffel bag near a dog park under some wooden stairs. Based on that information, police found the gun on Nov. 11.

The County Attorney’s Office said Thursday that police have sent no additional cases to prosecutors for consideration of charging anyone else with Fleming’s death.