MINNEAPOLIS — Hennepin County prosecutors charged a 19-year-old man for the fatal shooting of a young girl who was playing on a trampoline in her backyard last spring.
Dpree Robinson, 19, was charged with a single count of intentional second-degree murder.
Prosecutors described Robinson as a Minneapolis man "with ties to an area gang" and say he was attempting a "drive-by shooting" when a stray bullet hit 9-year-old Trinity Ottoson-Smith.
Ottoson-Smith was playing with her friends in the Jordan neighborhood 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.
"The sadness that comes with this arrest and charge is the reminder that an innocent nine-year-old child was shot and killed last year while playing on her trampoline," said Hennepin County Attorney Freeman in a news release. "I cannot express enough sympathy to her family and loved ones."
According to the criminal complaint, video footage from the area shows the "intended targets can be seen on a side porch of the house, with the trampoline between them and the shooter."
After the shooting, video shows one of the "intended targets" running after the car Robinson was driving, a 2014 Ford Fusion, and firing three shots.
Investigators say Robinson bought the car on May 12, 2021, and told the man he was buying it from to say nothing about the purchase.
Prosecutors say Robinson searched the internet for ways to change the paint on his Ford Fusion and he stopped using his cell phone.
Search warrants executed on Robinson's social media accounts show he was an "active shooter" for the Black Disciples Criminal Street Gang and made references of shooting "opps," which is street slang for "opposition" or 'rival gangs," according to the complaint.
Investigators say the search warrants also show Robinson exchanging social media messages with his girlfriend, in which she called him a "child killer," and said "I hope you die for killin that lil girl."
The complaint also added that Robinson had engaged in threatening social media communications with a male resident at the house where Ottoson-Smith was shot.
Recently, investigators got a break in the case when they spoke to a witness who told them that Robinson admitted to being at the house when the shooting happened.
Robinson is scheduled for his first court appearance on Friday afternoon.
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