St. Paul homicide: 20-year-old charged in killing of man who was walking home from work

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The 20-year-old arrested in connection to the killing of a 22-year-old St. Paul man walking home from work has been charged by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. ⁠⁠

Arteze Kinerd, of Minneapolis, is charged with second-degree murder. The charges say he and two other unidentified suspects shot Alex Becker six times in an alleyway behind his home just before midnight on Dec. 27, 2022.

According to the charges, Becker clocked out of work at 11:15 p.m. He was observed on camera walking home. 

Around 11:53, as Becker was walking down the alley behind his home three people are seen on surveillance camera running down the alley. Then, 39 seconds later, a different surveillance camera captured four shots being fired in rapid succession followed by another three and then one final shot, charges said. 

The video showed a black Toyota Camry with side damage in the area. Witnesses say two people got into the Camry before it drove off. 

Police found that the Camry, which had been stolen on Dec. 26, near the 2500 block of Penn Ave. N. on Jan. 2. The charges say a cell phone, recently taken in a home invasion robbery in St. Paul, had pinged to an apartment on that block. 

Investigators determined through surveillance video that Kinerd, who lives in the apartment with his girlfriend, was there when the stolen cell phone was pinged. 

Video showed three men leave the apartment on the night of the killing wearing clothing matching what was seen in the video taken at the scene. They were all seen on camera returning to the apartment a few hours later, at 12:27 a.m. on Jan. 28. 

Police found Kinerd at a convenience store on Jan. 3. Police say he had a gun on him at the time of his arrest. During a search of Kinerd’s apartment following his arrest, two more handguns were found, along with clothing that matches what was worn by one of the other suspects during Becker’s killing. 

The charges do not detail a motive for Becker's killing.

Kinerd is currently in the Ramsey County Jail and made his first court appearance on Thursday, where his bail was set at $2 million. Bail was also set at $500,000 for another Ramsey County case in early December in which Kinerd was charged with aggravated first-degree robbery and kidnapping.