Charges filed in shooting that killed Eagan, Eden Prairie firefighter

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Criminal charges have been filed in connection to a shootout outside a Minneapolis bar that left an Eagan and Eden Prairie firefighter dead earlier this month. 

Marquise Trevone Hammonds-Ford, 28, of Monticello, is facing one count of first-degree riot while armed with a weapon that results in death and two felony charges involving firearms. The charges are in connection to the May 5 fatal shooting of Joseph Johns, who worked for Eagan and Eden Prairie fire departments.

According to the criminal complaint, police responded to a reported shooting around 12:30 a.m. on May 5 near the Whiskey Junction Bar in Minneapolis. At the scene, they found bystanders performing CPR on Johns who had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest. First responders took over life-saving measures, but he was pronounced dead. 

Hundreds of people were gathered at a bar to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of a motorcycle club before the shooting, witnesses said. Charges explain the shooting stemmed from an altercation between two groups of men. Hammonds-Ford was standing across the street with Group B, as identified in court records, when he allegedly yelled and fired a "rapid succession of gunshots" using a handgun with an extended magazine over the heads of the men in Group A, who were standing near the bar. 

After Hammonds-Ford's initial round of gunfire, numerous people from both groups started firing across the street at each other, charges state.

When the "gunfire erupted," Johns was standing outside the bar "directing traffic," the complaint states. He was caught in the crossfire. It's unclear if he was shot by gunfire coming from Group A or Group B. 

Charges explain there was evidence of substantial gunfire involving multiple people. Law enforcement recovered 63 discharged cartridge casings that were fired by a 10 mm firearm and six different 9mm firearms. 

Johns died of a single gunshot wound to the chest from a 9mm handgun. "The investigation into other suspects responsible for the death of Victim is ongoing," the charges state. 

After the shootout, Hammonds-Ford and two others got into a vehicle and drove off. Several minutes later, the same vehicle pulled up to the Hennepin County Medical Center, where a person matching Hammonds-Ford's description jumped out of the vehicle, grabbed a wheelchair for one of his associates to get into the hospital, and got back into the vehicle, which then sped off, leaving the person behind to receive medical care. 

Hammonds-Ford is a "well-known member of the YNT criminal street gang," the criminal complaint states. He has been the "subject of numerous criminal investigations" and is currently on parole in connection to an illegal gun possession case, charges say. He is prohibited from possessing a firearm, yet visual and audio evidence collected at the scene show he was in possession and fired a 10mm firearm that was modified to function as an automatic weapon, charges said. 

Hammonds-Ford is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon.