BRAINERD — A 21-year-old Baxter man faces attempted murder and assault charges following a shooting Sunday, April 16, in Brainerd.
Ridge Kinney was charged Tuesday in Crow Wing County District Court with several serious felonies — premeditated first degree attempted murder, second degree attempted murder in a drive-by shooting, first degree assault, second degree assault with a dangerous weapon, second degree assault causing substantial bodily harm and dangerous weapons violation in a drive-by shooting toward an occupied vehicle.
According to the criminal complaint filed against Kinney, about 2:18 p.m. Sunday Brainerd Police officers responded to a report of a shooting incident on the 700 block of West College Drive. Officers arrived and located a vehicle parked on Southwest Eighth Street with the driver's side front window shot out. Officers located a victim, a 29-year-old Brainerd man, in a residence at a nearby apartment complex. The victim had a grazing gunshot wound to the right side of his head just below the hairline, his right eye was swollen shut and his face suffered multiple cuts due to shards of glass from the vehicle driver's door window being embedded in his face and right eye.
The victim was taken to Essentia Health-St. Joseph's Medical Center emergency room.
“The injury to the right eye will result in at least protracted loss or impairment (of) the eye,” the criminal complaint stated.
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While at the hospital the victim provided a statement to officers, saying he had just ended a relationship with his girlfriend and the two had an argument Sunday over property that he had left at her residence.
The victim said his ex-girlfriend had recently begun a romantic relationship with Kinney and the victim had received text messages and phone calls after the argument from Kinney wanting to “discuss things.” The victim replied to Kinney that he would meet him on the 700 block of West College Drive.
When the victim turned his vehicle onto Southwest Eighth Street off College Drive, he noticed what he thought was ex-girlfriend’s car in the parking lot. The victim said he drove up to the cul-de-sac on Southwest Eighth Street to turn around and a vehicle matching his ex-girlfriend's pulled up next to him, both facing south in the cul-de-sac. The victim saw the passenger window of the car roll down and a male, wearing a black ski mask, pointed a small black handgun out of the window and fired six to seven shots at him, shattering the front driver's side window.
The victim suffered a grazing shot in the head and glass shattered into his face. A juvenile passenger also was in the victim’s car and the victim leaned over and covered the juvenile while gunshots were hitting the vehicle.
The suspect vehicle fled the scene. The victim said he could not see who the driver of the vehicle was but did notice the passenger who fired the shots had several tattoos on his hands that were visible. A police officer reviewed surveillance video from the apartment complex, which corroborated the victim's report.
Investigators processing the scene located broken glass and five spent 9-millimeter shell casings in the snow, some of which were within the snow above the ground, indicating they were recently shot from a handgun since the snow began that morning. While processing the exterior of the victim's vehicle, there appeared to be bullet trajectory starting from the rear of the vehicle, to the center of the driver's side, and some from the front of the vehicle, indicating that the suspect vehicle was likely moving when several of the shots were fired.
Assisting officers located the ex-girlfriend’s vehicle at her residence. Kinney also was located at the residence and arrested when he tried to run out the back door. A search warrant was conducted at the residence. Officers found fresh foot tracks in the snow coming from the residence to a wooded area behind the residence. Officers located two 9-millimeter handguns hidden in the wooded area where the foot tracks led them. A black ski mask was located in a bedroom of the home.
While being interviewed at the police department, Kinney denied involvement in the shooting and said he had not spoken to the victim in months.
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Crow Wing County Attorney Don Ryan said the matter is still being investigated.
Kinney also faces charges of felony second degree assault with a dangerous weapon, felony damage to property, felony fleeing a peace officer, gross misdemeanor assaulting a peace officer, misdemeanor fleeing and misdemeanor failing to stop for a traffic collision stemming from an October incident in which he is accused of ramming his vehicle into a police officer's squad car.
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