E’Shaun Maurice Funches called his friend Wednesday afternoon and asked for a ride. Once they pulled up to a store along University Avenue in St. Paul, Funches hopped out and began firing, killing a 30-year-old man who was standing with his back to him, according to murder charges filed Friday.

Funches, 22, was arrested shortly after running away from the shooting and denied being the one who killed Alfonzo Avery Armstead outside Sunrise Grocery and Tobacco at 440 University Ave. However, his friend and his friend’s girlfriend who had picked him up for a ride — as well as video surveillance footage — told a different story, according to the criminal complaint.

Funches, of St. Paul, was scheduled to make his first appearance in Ramsey County District Court Friday on two counts of second-degree intentional murder.

Last month, Funches completed a three-year probation term in a 2019 aggravated robbery case out of Minneapolis, court records show.

According to Friday’s criminal complaint:

At around 2:50 p.m. Wednesday, officers were sent to the store on a report of a man who’d been shot. They provided medical attention to Armstead, who had gunshot wounds to his back, leg and abdomen.

When officers moved Armstead to check for more injuries a bullet fell out of his waistband. He tried sitting up, said, “I can’t breathe,” and lost consciousness. Medics responded and transported him to Regions Hospital, where he later died.

Officers located three 9mm shell casings near the intersection of University Avenue and Arundel Street where Armstead was shot.

Armstead’s girlfriend went to the store and told police that he recently was jumped by three men in front of the business.

The murder was caught on video surveillance. The shooter, wearing all black, got out of a black Nissan Rogue with visible license plates. The shooter quickly walked toward Armstead, who was standing outside the store. His back was turned to the shooter, who opened fire on him. He fell to the ground, and the shooter ran south.

An officer in an unmarked squad heard the call about the shooting and saw Funches walking off a path wearing black pants and carrying black clothes draped over his arm. The officer watched Funches try to discard items in a dumpster in a church parking lot at 451 Central Ave. Funches was unable to open the dumpster, so he walked away carrying the items.

The officer stopped Funches, who dropped the clothes. He tried to walk away, but was arrested when more officers arrived.

E’Shaun Maurice Funches (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Funches was trying to discard a black pair of pants and a black jacket that matched the one worn by the shooter. His shoes also matched those worn by the shooter.

A canine tracked from the shooting area south in the direction the shooter ran. Officers found a Taurus handgun in a plastic bag hidden beneath a pile of leaves by a transformer on the east side of the path behind 411 Western Ave. Funches was arrested coming from the direction where the gun was found.

Some of the headstamps on the ammunition in the magazine matched the headstamps on the casings found at the murder scene.

Funches agreed to speak to investigators. He said he found the clothes he was arrested carrying and that he was trying to throw away candy wrappers. He denied he had anything to do with the killing before eventually asking for an attorney.

Officers later located the Rogue and searched it with the owner’s consent. Nothing related to the case was recovered.

The Rogue’s owner, who was in the front passenger seat during the shooting, said her boyfriend was driving the car and that they had picked Funches up at a White Castle near Rice Street. Funches had asked for a ride. She has known Funches for a few years.

She said they drove over to Arundel Street near University Avenue. Funches got out of her car and shot the man. She got out to check on the man who’d been shot. She didn’t know what to do, so she drove away from the scene.

Officers spoke to her boyfriend. He said they were hanging out when his friend, Funches, asked him for a ride. At Arundel Street near University Avenue, they parked and Funches got out of the back driver’s side with a gun in his hand. They heard shots, and Funches ran away.

“The man was distraught that Funches would put him and his girlfriend in that situation,” the complaint read.

He said Funches has pulled a gun on him in the past, so he kept Funches at a distance.

Three years ago, Funches was charged with robbing a man of his cellphone, showing a handgun in his waistband, as the man left a downtown Minneapolis bar. He was sentenced to 60 days in the Hennepin County workhouse and three years’ probation, which he completed last month.

Armstead’s homicide was the 33rd of the year in St. Paul as well as the second this week. There were 37 homicides at this time last year, including cases that were later found to be legally justified.

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