ANOKA, Minn. — A 19-year-old Andover man faces a possible four-decade prison sentence after being charged with a fatal shooting that took place in a Coon Rapids parking lot.
Prosecutors on Wednesday charged Vaughn Jarod Coklas with second-degree intentional murder in Anoka County District Court. He is held in the death of Staveonte El Brown, also 19, whose body was discovered outside Cub Foods on the 2000 block of Northdale Boulevard Monday.
A criminal complaint spells out how squads from the Coon Rapids Police Department and the Anoka County Sheriff's Office were dispatched shortly after 4:30 p.m. on reports of shots fired in the Cub parking lot. Arriving officers found the victim laying on the pavement with a gunshot wound to the chest. Staveonte Brown was declared dead on the scene.
Witnesses directed officers to a man fleeing the scene, a suspect later identified as Coklas. They told investigators that a red Pontiac Grand Prix driven by the defendant pulled into the parking lot, and Brown climbed in. Witnesses say a fight broke out between the two, and soon spilled out into the lot. The two men reportedly separated, and Brown began picking up money that had spilled from his pockets.
At that point Coklas allegedly pulled a handgun and shot Brown. One witness said once outside the car Brown did not appear armed, or did he make any verbal or physical threats towards Coklas.
During a court appearance Wednesday morning bail was set at $1 million with conditions that include no use/possession of mood-altering chemicals and no use/possession of firearm), or $1.5 million with no conditions.
If found guilty Vaughn Coklas could face a 40-year prison sentence.
