Charges: Surveillance video captured deadly shooting at 8th and Hennepin in downtown Minneapolis
Varnell Allen, 23, of Columbia Heights, Minnesota is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of 21-year-old Enzo Herrera Garcia in downtown Minneapolis Saturday. (Hennepin County Jail / FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A 23-year-old Columbia Heights, Minnesota man was charged Tuesday in the fatal shooting of a man in downtown Minneapolis late Saturday night.
Varnell Allen is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Enzo Herrera Garcia, 21, of Apple Valley.
According to the charges, at about 10:20 p.m. Saturday, Herrera Garcia and his girlfriend were walking along Hennepin Avenue near 8th Street when a silver vehicle, driven by Allen, pulled up next to them and the occupants yelled something out the window. Herrera Garcia yelled something back.
Allen stopped the car and he and his passenger got out. Allen was holding a handgun.
The two men started fighting with Herrera Garcia, and Allen reportedly pistol-whipped him. At one point during the altercation, Allen dropped his gun, picked it up and fired one shot that struck Herrera Garcia in the chest.
Allen and the other man drove off, but a witness recorded his license plate number. Surveillance video also captured the shooting.
When officers arrived, they found Herrera Garcia lying in the street. He was taken to the hospital, where he died a short time later.
Officers tracked Allen to the south Minneapolis house listed on the car's registration, where they eventually arrested him on Sunday.
Allen will make his first court appearance Wednesday. Prosecutors will seek bail of $1 million.