Snapchat location data leads to charges in Minneapolis fatal shooting
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A teenager has been charged in a fatal Minneapolis shooting after police used Snapchat location data to place him in the area, according to court records.
Prosecutors charged 19-year-old Clyde Mack Lee III with second-degree murder in connection to a fatal shooting on Feb. 6, 2023.
According to the charges filed Thursday, police responded to a crash and gunshots heard on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. There, officers found a Dodge Charger that had crashed into another vehicle. The driver of the Charger, 25-year-old Deveall La Ray McClendon, was found to be suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, and evidence of gunfire damage was found outside the car.
First responders provided medical aid, and he was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
During the investigation, authorities reviewed multiple street camera and business surveillance videos and were able to track the victim’s vehicle as it traveled southbound on Hennepin Avenue. Eventually, the victim’s vehicle and the suspect’s vehicle paralleled each other on Lyndale Avenue South, court documents say.
The victim’s vehicle then strikes the suspect’s vehicle near the intersection at Vineland Place. After the crash, the suspect’s vehicle is seen leaving the scene, court documents allege.
Investigators used Lee’s Snapchat data to see his location, which allegedly revealed he moved "identically" with the vehicle's travels on Hennepin Avenue the morning of the shooting and crash as seen on surveillance video, charges allege.
Investigators were able to track down the suspect’s vehicle by capturing the license plate number and then located the vehicle in Maple Grove. In a later search of the vehicle, police say they found bullet casings matching casings found on the scene of the crash. At that scene, two different bullet casings were found; 10 mm caliber and 9 mm caliber, 10 mm casings were found on the scene and in the suspect's vehicle, according to court documents.
Additionally, investigators say bullet casings from this incident matched firearms used in another Minneapolis shooting from June 2022, charges allege. Court records indicate Lee was allegedly seen in a Snapchat video with a handgun near where the shooting occurred. Court records do not say whether Lee has been charged in the June shooting.
Lee was charged via warrant and is currently not in custody.