St. Cloud Man Charged as Accomplice in 2023 Murder Arrested
ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- Authorities have arrested a man wanted in connection to a St. Cloud murder in 2023. Twenty-nine-year-old Antoine Williams was booked into the Stearns County Jail on Wednesday.
Williams is accused of providing a stolen gun to 27-year-old Deionte Parker in the shooting death of 34-year-old Antonio Harris Jr. last October.
Williams is charged with stealing a .40-caliber handgun from a home in Cold Spring in December 2022 while at an after-bar party. According to the criminal complaint, that gun was used in the 2023 killing of Harris. The shooting is believed to be in retaliation for a stabbing incident in July of 2023.
The St. Cloud Police Department says officers responded to a report of multiple shots fired in the 700 block of 6th Avenue South just before 4:00 a.m. on October 22nd, 2023. When police arrived, they found several people at the home.
Authorities say a disagreement during the gathering at the home led to the shooting.
The victim, Antonio Harris Jr. of Buffalo, died at the scene. Two other shooting victims, a 26-year-old man and a 52-year-old man, were treated and released from St. Cloud Hospital. Witnesses say Harris was trying to negotiate a truce between the two sides when he was shot.
Days later, police were called to a neighbor's home. The caller told police there was a handgun on the roof of her house. Police recovered the gun and court records allege it matched the gun that was stolen in Cold Spring and matched shell casings found at the scene of the shooting.
Parker was eventually arrested and charged with 2nd-degree murder, being a felon in possession of a gun, and 2nd-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.
Williams was wanted by police until his arrest on Wednesday. He is charged with aiding and abetting 2nd-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a gun. Williams is also charged separately in the gun theft case from December 2022.
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