ST PAUL, Minn. — A man who admitted to killing a former St. Paul Central basketball player will spend the next two decades behind bars after being sentenced in Ramsey County Court Monday.
Court documents confirm 23-year-old Xavion Tyrece Bell was sentenced to 30 years for the shooting death of Dion Ford, just 21 years old when he was killed the night of March 31, 2022.
A criminal complaint filed in the case says Ford was leaving a supermarket and restaurant on the 400 block of Maryland that night when surveillance video shows Bell approach and enter into a verbal exchange with him. At that point Ford pulled a gun and shot Bell, who also had a weapon and returned fire.
Ford fell to the ground, and investigators say Bell "fired an additional 13 times at (Ford's) lifeless body.
Minnesota sentencing guidelines call for Bell to serve a maximum of 19.8 years of the 30-year sentence, followed by just over 10 years supervised release. He will be credited for 417 days served.
Dion Ford scored more than 1,000 points in his career at St. Paul Central High School, graduating in 2019. He then moved on to play junior college ball in North Dakota before returning to the Twin Cities. Those who knew him were shocked at what occurred that night.
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's newscasts. You'll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
- Add KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store.
- Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store.
- Learn more about the KARE 11+ app for Apple TV in the Apple App Store.
- Learn more about KARE 11+ here.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist:
