Charges: Misti Nelson fatally shot man during fight inside Minneapolis deli

MINNEAPOLIS — A 27-year-old woman is charged with second-degree murder in connection to a shooting outside of a Minneapolis deli on Saturday.

Minneapolis police were called to Mr. Santana located at 601 University Avenue Southeast around 3:45 a.m. for a shooting.

Officers arrived at the scene to find the victim lying on the ground with a gunshot wound. He died about 45 minutes later at HCMC. 

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as 40-year-old Kenneth Maurice Johnson, from Wayne, Michigan. His cause of death was by gunshot wound to the abdomen.

Hours after the shooting, Misti Nelson, of Minneapolis, turned herself and her gun in to police.

Complaint details

According to charging documents, video surveillance from the deli shows seven people waiting for food and three employees working in “an area only 2-3 people wide and 5-6 people in length with a counter and a wall on each side.”

A fight broke out after one of the customers threw a punch in front of Nelson. An employee, identified as Nelson’s sister, exits from behind the cashier counter and approaches the initial three fighting.  Police say the video shows bodies being pushed and shoved back and forth, while Nelson and her sister are stuck in the middle

Johnson, who was outside when the fight started, came inside and became involved in the altercation, the criminal complaint states.

Nelson is said to have then pulled out a firearm and began hitting another woman in the head with it. Johnson is allegedly shown pushing Nelson backwards, away from the group. Nelson was punched in the face by the woman she was hitting with the gun. Nelson’s sister then started to punch the woman in response.

Eventually, Nelson is pushed out of the store by the fighting group. As the fight continues, Nelson reportedly opened the door from the outside and fired shots into the group. Police say Nelson was pushed back outside and Johnson exited after her, which is when she shot him a second time.

Johnson ran away from Nelson, between parked cars and across the street, where he collapsed.

After her arrest, police say Nelson admitted to shooting Johnson two times.

The criminal complaint says Nelson has a valid permit to carry the gun she used in the shooting and that she told police that she aimed at Johnson’s torso because she was “trained” to do so in permit to carry class.

She told police that she shot Johnson because she was hit in the face during the fight, fear of her sister, an employee at the deli, getting hurt in the fight and because Johnson was bigger than her.