ST PAUL, Minn. — A Wisconsin man has been charged in a deadly shooting that took place Tuesday night in St. Paul in the Highland Park neighborhood.
Roger Lee Voss III, 23, of River Falls has been charged with second-degree murder and possessing a firearm while having been convicted or adjudicated of a crime of violence.
According to police, the shooting occurred inside a residence on the 2200 block of West Seventh Street at around 9 p.m. The victim has been identified as Ruben Adrian Paramo, 42, of St. Paul, police said.
An officer responding to the scene following the fatal shooting interviewed a man who lived in the unit. The man told police that when he got home, he asked Paramo about a motorcycle that was parked in the driveway, the complaint states.
The witness said after he asked Paramo the question, he saw a man go up to Paramo and then heard a gunshot, prosecutors said. The witness told police he ran to a back bedroom to take cover.
Other squads responding to the scene saw a motorcycle traveling at high speeds and running multiple red lights, the complaint says. Squads pursed the motorcycle until it eventually stopped at the intersection of Wacouta and 9th Street. Voss was identified as the driver, and officers noticed he had dry blood on his hands, a handgun in his jacket with a loaded round, and a loaded magazine that seemed to have been hit by something, police said.
Voss told officers he was attempting to buy drugs but that an individual attempted to rob him at gun point, and he wrestled the gun from the person's hand and got shot in the finger, police said.
Officers investigated the scene of the fatal shooting and found shell casings, bullets, drugs, blood and signs that a struggle took place, the complaint states.
Police interviewed people who lived in the area who all said they heard gunshots. One woman who was interviewed said she checked surveillance footage after hearing the shots and saw a man leaving the home and getting on a motorcycle, the complaint reads.
The woman told police others had said Paramo attempted to rob Voss, but missed when he fired his gun and was shot instead, the complaint states.
When interviewed Voss told police that a man attempted to rob him, hit him in the face with a pistol and that he feared for his life, prosecutors said. Voss said the man shot at him and he got grazed on the hip, but he had a handgun magazine in his pocket that stopped the bullet.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiners Office documented 16 separate bullet holes in Paramo's body.
Voss is ineligible to posses a firearm due to previous criminal convictions.
OTHER NEWS: Man charged in Crystal Halloween homicide
