Suspect charged in homicide on West Seventh Street in St. Paul
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A 22-year-old Wisconsin man is facing murder charges in the shooting death of a man in St. Paul, Minnesota’s Highland Park neighborhood Tuesday night.
Roger Lee Voss III was charged Thursday with second-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm in connection with the murder of 42-year-old Ruben Paramo.
According to the charges, around 9:15 p.m. St. Paul police officers responded to a duplex on the 2200 block of West Seventh Street on a report that shots had been fired there. The suspect had fled eastbound on West Seventh towards downtown St. Paul.
St. Paul Fire Department medics arrived on scene and pronounced the victim, Paramo, dead. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner determined he had been shot 16 times.
While responding to the shooting, officers noticed a motorcycle speeding on West Seventh Street. They attempted to stop the motorcycle, but it fled and ran several red lights. Officers pursued the motorcycle until it stopped downtown, around six miles from the shooting scene.
Police took the driver, identified as Voss, into custody. He had dried blood on his hands and a loaded .40 caliber Glock 22 handgun in his jacket pocket. He initially told police he had gone to buy drugs from Paramo, who he claimed not to have known, and that during the buy, Paramo tried to rob him.
A man who lives in the upper unit, where the shooting is believed to have taken place, told police he came home to find Paramo in the living room and a motorcycle he did not recognize in the driveway. He said a man then came out of the backroom and brushed by Paramo. He then heard a loud gunshot and ran for cover.
A woman who lives in the lower unit told investigators she heard several gunshots and went to the surveillance camera monitor, where she saw a man leave the house and get on a motorcycle and drive away.
She said she then went upstairs, where she overheard people in the house say Paramo tried to rob the man on the motorcycle and that both of them had handguns. She also overheard them say Paramo shot at the other man, but he missed. The other man shot Paramo and then fled.
Investigators did not find a second gun at the scene, but they did recover 13 .4 caliber casings and three 9mm at the scene.
In 2013, Voss was adjudicated delinquent for second-degree assault and is ineligible to possess a firearm, according to the charges.