A St. Paul man was sentenced to four years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the July shooting death of a 30-year-old who had just assaulted his ex-girlfriend near a Dayton’s Bluff bus stop.

The man who was shot had jumped off a Metro Transit bus, run across the street and begun punching the woman, whom he’d previously dated, police and prosecutors said. Lazarus Lamar Burns II, who was now dating her, shot the man twice in the torso; he died at the scene.

Burns, 31, was charged with intentional, not premeditated second-degree murder and unintentional second-degree murder while committing a felony. On Nov. 20, a week before a trial was set to begin, he reached a deal with Ramsey County prosecutors and pleaded guilty to an added charge of second-degree manslaughter. The deal included the four-year prison term and dismissal of the murder charges.

Burns was given credit Monday for 180 days he’s already served in custody.

Collapsed in the street

Jermaine Baker (Courtesy of the family)

Police were called to the shooting at Third and Earl streets just before 2 p.m. July 27. The woman said she was waiting for a bus with Burns when Jermaine Ray John Baker ran up and punched her multiple times with his closed fist, knocking her to the ground, the criminal complaint said. Burns told him to stop.

As she was getting up from the ground, she heard two to three gunshots and saw Baker run back across the street and then collapse in the middle of it.

Police noted the woman’s face was swollen and she had bumps on her head. She said she and Baker had been dating on and off for four years, that he routinely hit her and she had never reported the assaults.

Officers took Burns into custody about a block and a half from the shooting scene. A loaded gun was in a pants pocket. He said he and the woman had walked away and that he intended to call police.

Witnesses, video

Burns told police he moved to Minnesota about three years ago and met the woman while working. They just started dating and spent the last two days together, he said. While they were waiting for the bus, he heard her say, “Oh (expletive)” and saw a man running toward her.

Lazarus Lamar Burns (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

The man, who Burns didn’t know, punched the woman in the face. Burns said he heard the man say, “This my b—-, bro.” Burns told him to stop about three times. The man was dragging the woman by her hair and beating her in the head.

“He said he has seen men abuse women numerous times (and) said he blacked out and shot” less than five times, the complaint said.

Witnesses reported to police they saw a man, identified as Baker, assault the woman; one said he had her by the hair and “was smashing her face in.” A witness who was driving in the area said Baker stood up and turned away, which is when “the suspect pulled out a firearm, pointed it and shot (Baker) multiple times,” the complaint said.

Surveillance video showed Baker looking for someone while on the bus, then bolting off it and across the street. An “immediate physical struggle with the female ensues. Three shots are heard,” the complaint said. Eight seconds elapsed from the time Baker reached the woman to when he went back into the street.

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