Man sentenced for fatal shooting at party inside Plymouth short-term rental

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An arrest has been made following a shooting incident that left a man fatally wounded around 11 p.m. on Saturday night in Plymouth, according to police.

PLYMOUTH, Minn. (FOX 9) - A man was sentenced Thursday afternoon for the fatal shooting of another man at a short-term rental home in Plymouth last year.

Court records show Raheim Tyrese Cooper, 20, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for second-degree murder.

A plea agreement filed on Feb. 15 shows that Cooper pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, without intent, while committing a felony in exchange for another charge of second-degree murder with intent, not premeditated, being dismissed.

The shooting resulted in the death of 20-year-old Abraham Archie-Boy Barbly.

A criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County Court states that police responded to reports of a shooting at a home near the intersection of Oakview Lane North and 58th Avenue North just before 11 p.m. on March 4, 2023. The dispatcher reported that there was a large party at the home and that at least one person was shot and not breathing. A caller also told the dispatcher that a "switch automatic" handgun was used in the shooting.

Police say a large group was trying to leave the home when they arrived and that they found Barbly lying on the kitchen floor with multiple gunshot wounds. He was declared dead at the scene.

According to the charges, police then found a backpack that was on the ground between two "potential witnesses." When asked who the backpack belonged to, no one responded. Police found an iPhone, several bags of marijuana and a loaded Glock handgun with a mounted laser sight and a modified "switch" to make it fully automatic.

Investigators then spoke to a girl who was seen wearing the backpack in police body worn camera footage, court documents said. She said that Cooper approached her after the shooting while several people at the party were running away, asking her to hold his backpack. The girl agreed, saying she didn't know what was inside and "did not think anything of it at the time," according to the complaint.

Another witness reported seeing Cooper throw a punch and then point a gun up in the air, while others stated that there was a dispute between Cooper and Barbly going on for months, court documents say.

The complaint also states that a neighbor gave investigators NEST camera footage that showed the mass exit of people after the shooting and someone can be heard yelling "get Raheim out of there."

Cooper spoke to investigators and initially denied any involvement in the shooting, charges said.

Court documents show that Cooper then said someone he knew, but did not name, handed him a gun, and he put the gun in his backpack. Cooper then told police he "did not want anything to do with the gun", so he gave it to the girl because he did not think police would talk to her or search her.

In another interview, Cooper admitted to punching Barbly and that they had been fighting for weeks, court documents said. Cooper said that other people then held him and Barbly back from each other. Another man gave Cooper the gun, and he pointed it at the ground in the direction of Barbly when he was bumped or pushed from behind and the gun fired several rounds, according to the statement Cooper gave to investigators.

Cooper will serve his sentence at Minnesota Correctional Facility-St. Cloud.

Plymouth Crime and Public Safety