Man charged with second-degree murder in St. Cloud shooting

ST. CLOUD – A third teenager is now facing felony charges in connection with the fatal shooting at a St. Cloud apartment on Sunday.

Bernard D. Bowens, 19, was charged this week with one count of second-degree murder and one count of third-degree murder.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Benton County District Court, St. Cloud police responded to a shooting just before 3 a.m. Sunday at 230 Second St. NE. in St. Cloud.

Officers found 17-year-old Layson Davis of St. Cloud with a gunshot wound to his chest; he was declared dead at the scene. Officers also found a 19-year-old man from St. Joseph with two gunshot wounds to his chest.

The 19-year-old victim, whom police have not identified, was taken to St. Cloud Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition as of the last police update on Wednesday.

Surveillance video from the apartment shows Davis and the St. Joseph man in a hallway when Bowens comes through the door and, after a few minutes, starts tussling with the St. Joseph man and eventually takes a gun from him, documents state.

About a minute later, 19-year-old Quinton L. McNeal of St. Cloud and two other males entered the apartment, documents state. The complaint says surveillance video shows Bowens fire several rounds at Davis, after which the St. Joseph man runs into the hallway and is shot by an unnamed male.

McNeal and his girlfriend, 19-year-old Olivia Williams, were charged Thursday with aiding and abetting the theft of a firearm and aggravated robbery; Williams was also charged with aiding an offender.

Williams told police McNeal told her he was going to make a sale, which she believed might involve a gun or drugs, and that she propped open the door at the apartment before the incident at the direction of McNeal, documents state. Williams said she later drove Bowens to a house in Minnetonka.

The complaint does not list a city of residence for Bowens. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.