A St. Paul teen has admitted in court to the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old in an East Side alley in 2022, and will receive a 10½-year prison sentence as part of a plea deal he reached with Ramsey County prosecutors last week.

J’veon Jamauri Brown was 16 years old when he shot Antwan Calvin Watson four times and then returned to Johnson High School, where he was seen on video reenacting the deadly encounter for other students, the charges say.

Four days after the killing, prosecutors charged Brown with second-degree intentional murder-not premeditated and second-degree unintentional murder while committing a robbery. In August, he was certified to stand accused in adult court.

Brown, who turned 18 in December, pleaded guilty Friday to the unintentional murder charge. In addition to the 128-month prison sentence, the plea deal includes the dismissal of two pending juvenile felony theft cases. Sentencing has been set for June 12.

According to the murder criminal complaint:

Police and medics responded to an alley in the 1000 block of York Avenue at 12:25 p.m. Oct. 10, 2022, on a report of someone on the ground not breathing and with signs of trauma. Watson was found with four gunshot wounds, including two to the chest. He died at the scene. Spent 9-mm casings and live 9-mm ammunition were near his body.

A resident told officers he saw three males walking in an alley behind York Avenue, then heard gunshots about two minutes later. He saw one of them run away.

While processing the scene, officers were told by two people that “JB,” later identified as Brown, was the shooter. They said he was a student at Johnson.

School surveillance footage showed Brown talking to several students and appearing to reenact the shooting, including “holding both arms out in a shooting stance” and “mimicking chambering a round into a handgun.”

A 15-year-old told investigators he was walking with Watson and Brown in the alley and heard Watson call out to him. He said when he turned around, he saw Brown point a gun at Watson and shoot him. The boy said he ran.

He told investigators he did not know why Brown shot Watson. He said Brown later sent him a message through social media that read, “that’s what y’all get.”

Brown was arrested the next morning in downtown St. Paul, near Fifth and Minnesota streets. He had a loaded 9-mm Glock handgun in his front waistband, according to police.

In an interview with investigators, Brown initially said that he was at school when the shooting happened and that he heard about it. He gave several versions of what happened, including that the 15-year-old boy shot Watson. After being told there was video of him running out of the alley seconds after the killing, Brown admitted that he shot Watson.

Brown told investigators he had heard that Watson and the 15-year-old were planning to rob him, so “he tried to up first.” He also said he was not friends with them.

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