CARVER COUNTY, Minn. — Four people have been charged after a motorcyclist was hit in the chest by a stray bullet.
A criminal complaint filed in Carver lays out the charges against 26-year-old Blake Azurin Martin, 56-year-old William Azurin Martin, 22-year-old Jasmine Symone Morrow, and 21-year-old Ian Alexander Stinson. All face a single count of intentionally discharging handguns under circumstances that endangered the safety of the public.
Deputies were dispatched on June 25 to the area of County Road 40 and Homestead Road in San Francisco Township on reports of a man with a gunshot wound. Police spotted a group of motorcyclists standing around a man who appeared to be severely bleeding from his chest. He told first responders he had been shot, and was afraid he was going to die. The motorcyclist was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center for emergency surgery.
Investigators found that a group had been target shooting near County Road 40. Police say the group was firing a variety of handguns at a silhouette target placed near a pile of logs, but without an adequate backstop. Bullets that didn't hit the target were traveling all the way down to County Road 40.
The group stopped shooting when someone drove up to their driveway and told them a motorcyclist had been shot.
Investigators spoke with neighbors who were concerned with the target practice that was going on. One told them bullets were flying over his head and into the trees that were on his property. The man yelled at the group to stop. A woman showed officers damage on her detached garage that was found to be caused by a bullet.
The motorcyclist sustained injuries to an artery that supplies blood to the right arm, and a fractured shoulder blade. The bullet was removed and given to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as part of the investigation.