A suspect in the Minneapolis murder has been arrested in Superior, Wisconsin.
The U.S. Marshals’ Office arrested Brian Pierre Swearegene, 34, Wednesday afternoon, with Darrell Lamont, 28, of Brooklyn Park in April. The murder of Darrell Lamont Sims II.
A warrant for his arrest was issued in July, charging him with second-degree murder in Hennepin County with intent and possession of a firearm. He was also charged with felony threats to violence in Ramsay County in a separate incident in July.
He was apprehended without incident by members of the Great Lakes Fugitive Task Force and the U.S. Marshals’ North Star Fugitive Task Force.
According to the criminal indictment:
Police were called at around 10 p.m. on April 2, 2022, after multiple shots were fired outside an apartment building near 24th Street and Elliott Avenue South in Minneapolis.
Police found a “severely injured” man – later identified as Sims – collapsed in the backyard of a house on the south side of the apartment block. A witness said they saw two men running from the area where Sims was found.
Sims was pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center shortly after.
Investigators learned that the shooting took place outside the apartment complex and that 10 shell casings were found at the scene.
Surveillance video, which captured the incident, shows the gunman, Dajohn Cortez Ramon Yarborough, also charged with Sweargene – approaching Sims and starting to shoot him. The complaint alleges that the gun he fired had an extended magazine.
Home security footage also captured Yarborough and Swearegene on camera as they approached the apartment complex, both armed with guns.
In July, Swearegene was interviewed by police about the incident. He admitted to being one of two men seen in the security footage. He also told investigators that the shooting happened because a colleague of Yarborough’s was murdered “a few weeks ago”.
Swearegene claimed he was not present at the time of the shooting but “knew what to expect”.
He was formally charged and an arrest warrant was issued on 20 July.
Swearegene was previously convicted of first-degree burglary in 2009 and first-degree aggravated robbery in 2013, according to court records. He is being extradited to Hennepin County and is being held at the Douglas County Jail.
If convicted, Swearegene faces up to 55 years in prison.