MINNEAPOLIS — A 19-year-old from Minneapolis has been charged with second-degree murder in connection to the shooting death of 9-year-old Trinity Ottoson-Smith in May.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced that the man was arrested Wednesday and booked into Hennepin County Jail on probable cause of second-degree murder. He's expected to make his first court appearance sometime this week.
Ottoson-Smith was jumping on a trampoline with friends in the Jordan neighborhood of Minneapolis on May 15, 2021 when she was shot in the head by someone driving a red four-door Ford down the nearby alley. Ottoson-Smith died from her injuries 12 days later at North Memorial Health Hospital.
BCA agents believe Ottoson-Smith's death was the result of a gang-related drive-by shooting and that she wasn't the intended target.
The 9-year-old was one of three children shot in Minneapolis last summer within a span of several weeks.
Aniya Allen was just 6 years old when she was shot while riding in the back of a car on the 3500 block of Penn Avenue North in the city's Folwell neighborhood. Allen was the granddaughter of local peace activist Kay G. Wilson.
When he was 10 years old, Ladavionne Garrett Jr. was shot in April while riding home with his parents and spent months in the hospital recovering from his injuries. On Nov. 1, Garrett Jr. was released from the hospital, days after celebrating his 11th birthday.
"Trinity and Aniya should have never been murdered. Ladavionne, the course of his life should have never changed," said Trinity's stepmother Korrina Smith outside the Hennepin County Government Center last month.
Anyone with information related to these cases is asked to contact CrimeStoppers at crimestoppersmn.org or the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at 877-996-6222 or bca.tips@state.mn.us.
This is a developing story. KARE 11 will provide more details as new information becomes available.
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