Woman charged over alleged role in deadly Minneapolis apartment shooting
Charges have been filed in the death of a man who allegedly forced his way into a south Minneapolis apartment earlier this month, resulting in his being fatally shot.
Samantha J. Barth, 38, was charged Friday with second-degree murder and aiding an offender after the fact, with Hennepin County prosecutors saying she provided the gun that was used to kill 27-year-old Marcellus Maurice Strickland in the early morning hours of February 5.
Per the charges, Barth and her co-defendant — the alleged shooter — were gathered with others in the apartment of a woman identified only as "G.F." when Strickland "kicked down her apartment door" and assaulted G.F., who later identified herself as the mother of Strickland's child.
Court documents say Strickland had been sending G.F. "threatening messages" throughout the night.
According to the charges, another witness at the scene saw Barth retrieve a handgun from her purse and hand it to the co-defendant, who has not been formally charged yet.
(Bring Me The News does not typically name suspects until they have been charged with a crime.)
Strickland saw the handgun and "tried to move away," but the suspect fired three shots at him, the charges say. The first shot missed, but the next shots hit and Strickland dropped to the floor.
The suspects then left the scene. Police soon arrived and found Strickland unresponsive with a gunshot wound to his neck. He was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he was ultimately pronounced dead.
Other witnesses at the scene later told investigators that the shooting "appeared to be unnecessary and excessive." They also turned Barth over, providing officers with her name and address.
She was located while leaving her apartment and arrested on February 8.
The charges say she told officers that she was drunk at the time of the shooting and "did not remember much," including who shot the victim.
As the Star Tribune reports, no criminal complaint has been filed against her co-defendant, a 31-year-old St. Paul man, and he's not in the Hennepin County jail.
The paper says the County Attorney's Office has "so far declined to clarify the lack of public documentation regarding his complicity."
Barth is currently being held on $500,000 bail.
