AK-47 fired accidentally, killing St. Paul boy, charges say

A witness said the gun went off as Alfredo Gutierrez-Gonzales was trying to load it, killing 15-year-old Jacob MacKenzie. Gutierrez-Gonzales was charged today with second-degree murder.

By ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune
Last update: November 21, 2008 - 1:30 PM

A second-degree murder charge was filed today against the man accused of fatally shooting a 15-year-old St. Paul boy on the city's West Side early Sunday.

Alfredo (Freddy) Gutierrez-Gonzales, 19, who turned himself in to police Thursday, admitted to firing the fatal shot, but contends it was an accident, according to a Ramsey County District Court complaint.

The charges were filed on the same day as funeral services for Jacob MacKenzie, a quiet, well-liked 10th-grader who died on his family's front porch in the 500 block of Concord Street.

According to the complaint:

Gutierrez-Gonzales, who dated the victim's cousin, was on the porch, where he often slept, struggling to put a clip into an AK-47 rifle, according to a male witness who lived there, too. The witness said the suspect asked for his help, but he couldn't load the clip, either, because the frame of the gun "was messed up or bent."

After the witness handed back the gun, Gutierrez-Gonzales resumed the effort to insert the clip, at which time MacKenzie approached them, and the gun suddenly went off, with a bullet striking the victim in the head, the witness said.

The witness ran inside the house to ask that someone call 911, and upon his return, he discovered Gutierrez-Gonzales was gone.

The gun was found by a police K-9 in a ditch in the 400 block of Concord Street.

A police interview with the suspect's girlfriend, Jayna Emerson, revealed that she'd sent a text message to Gutierrez-Gonzales earlier that evening saying that she was scared because someone had threatened to shoot at the house. Gutierrez-Gonzales was a member of the Brown Pride street gang, she told police.

On Thursday, following the suspect's surrender, Gutierrez-Gonzales told police that he'd received text messages and phone calls from multiple friends warning of the drive-by shooting. He said that he found a gun, brought it to the house and was attempting to put in the clip when MacKenzie walked in. He put down the gun to hide it, he told police, but MacKenzie told him "that it was OK." When he picked the gun back up, he said, it suddenly went off, killing the boy.

Gutierrez-Gonzales would not tell police where he got the weapon.

He insisted that the shooting was an accident, and he wanted to tell MacKenzie's mother that he was sorry.

Michelle Olson, the victim's mother, has said publicly that she hates Gutierrez-Gonzales and would not forgive him.

Earlier this year, Gutierrez-Gonzales pleaded guilty to terroristic threats in Hennepin County District Court after he sent a MySpace message to a Bloomington man stating that he owned an AK-47 assault rifle and Ingram Mac 11 assault pistol, and was a Brown Pride gang member, court records show.

As part of the sentence for that offense, Gutierrez-Gonzales was prohibited from possessing a firearm.

The complaint filed today also charges him with second-degree manslaughter and illegal possession of a firearm.

The shooting marked the second time in three days that someone died in the metro area of what was alleged to be an unintentional gunshot.

On Nov. 14, Emmanuel Bartuoh, 18, a Fridley High School football star, died after being shot in the chest by a friend and former teammate, Samuel Dennis, 20. Dennis, later charged with second-degree manslaughter, told police he didn't know the 9-millimeter gun was loaded.

the gun suddenly went off,

a bullet striking the victim in the head, the witness said.

accused of fatally shooting a 15-year-old St. Paul boy on the city's West Side early Sunday.

Jacob MacKenzie