The man who fired the shot that killed a 14-year-old boy outside a graduation party in Woodbury in 2021 was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison.

Enrique Lucio Davila, 26, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty in February to aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder and aiding and abetting second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with a gun battle that killed Demaris Hobbs-Ekdahl.

Enrique Lucio Davila (Courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Corrections)

The Maplewood teen was shot as he rode in the backseat of a car on June 5, 2021. He had just finished his freshman year at Tartan High School in Oakdale.

In exchange for the guilty plea, the prosecution agreed not to pursue an intentional murder charge against Davila, who previously pleaded not guilty, claiming self-defense.

Davila declined to address the court before Judge Laura Pietan handed down the sentence. He will receive credit for 946 days he’s served since his arrest.

Two other gunmen, including Demaris Hobbs-Ekdahl’s stepfather, who fired the first shot from his SUV, are serving prison sentences for their roles in the shootout.

Arrest after 3-month manhunt

Police said more than 40 bullets sprayed the area, hitting houses and cars, and terrifying the roughly 35 people at the party.

Davila was arrested at a house in St. Paul’s Payne-Phalen neighborhood after a three-month manhunt that included law enforcement officials asking the public’s help in locating him and distributing wanted posters with his photo around St. Paul and on social media.

Davila’s plea deal comes five months after a jury found his friend, 20-year-old Xavier Le’Drew Hudson, guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder and aiding and abetting second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon charges. He was sentenced to 37 years in prison on Feb. 2.

40 shots rang out

According to court documents, Hudson, Davila and Jaden Lavan Townsend confronted Hobbs-Ekdahl, his brother Davion Hobbs-Ekdahl and others near the party in the 6100 block of Edgewood Avenue around 10:30 p.m.

Davion Hobbs-Ekdahl told police that Davila stuck a gun in his ribs and warned him, “Don’t try anything,” court documents say. Townsend then slapped him in the face.

The brothers and their friends then left the party. Demaris Hobbs-Ekdahl called his stepfather, Keith Dawson. He met his stepsons and their friends at a parking lot in Maplewood and encouraged them to return to the party with him so the perpetrators “would stop messing with them,” according to the criminal complaint against him.

Dawson drove his Chevrolet Tahoe, while the others followed closely behind in a Kia Forte. When they arrived, Davila, Townsend and Hudson were standing near an SUV parked on the street. Dawson fired six or seven shots toward the group, he later admitted to authorities.

Hudson and Davila returned fire with a barrage of bullets from their semiautomatic handguns that were equipped with 30-round clips. A bullet fired by Davila traveled through the Kia’s rear license plate, then the trunk and back seat and struck Hobbs-Ekdahl in the back, went through both of his lungs and stopped in his shoulder.

Dawson moved the boy into his vehicle. Police arrived, spotted Dawson’s SUV and pursued him to Regions Hospital, where the boy was pronounced dead about an hour later. A medical examiner determined the cause of death to be exsanguination — blood loss — due to the gunshot wound.

Investigators found 40 bullet casings at the scene, as well as bullet holes in several homes and vehicles at the site of the party.

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