A 34-year-old Saint Paul man is facing a felony charge after allegedly firing a handgun into the air outside his apartment building on the 1500 block of Marion Street, then walking back inside as officers arrived. Deonte Cortez Childs, who holds a valid permit to carry, told investigators he fired what he described as a warning shot because he believed he spotted the person who had previously broken into his car.
According to charges detailed by MN Crime, Saint Paul police officers responded to the apartment building on August 24 after a report of a man firing a handgun into the air. A witness told police that Childs picked up the spent casing after firing the gun, and an apartment manager later identified him as the person who fired the weapon. Officers found Childs after he exited the building.
Police obtained a warrant to search Childs’s apartment the same day. Inside, according to the charges, officers found a black handgun in a holster tucked under a pillow on the bed, along with a spent casing sitting on a desk.
What Childs Told Investigators
Childs said he fired the shot because he believed he saw the person who had previously broken into his car, per the charging documents. Notably, the complaint does not describe Childs as reporting that he was in fear of imminent death or great bodily harm from that person at the time he fired — a distinction that matters under Minnesota’s self-defense standards…