Inset: Jaquan Edwards (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office). Background: The Prospect Park train station in Minneapolis, Minn. (Google Maps).
A Minnesota man is behind bars after saliva found at a train station led investigators to identify him as the suspect in a killing, according to law enforcement in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Jaquan Edwards, 30, stands accused of one count of second-degree murder in the death of 36-year-old Joseph Nezperce.
The shooting occurred around 9 p.m. on the Metro Transit Green Line light-rail in Minneapolis, as the train moved between the Stadium Village and Prospect Park stations, two adjacent stops along the eastern edge of the University of Minnesota campus.
The defendant is allegedly seen on surveillance footage boarding the train at 8:48 p.m. that night at the U.S. Bank Stadium station in downtown Minneapolis, according to the Minneapolis Police Department, local NBC affiliate KARE reported.
Nine minutes later, the victim is seen getting on the train at the East Bank station and sitting opposite the defendant, police said.
The two men talked before Edwards pulled out a gun, fired three shots and then got off the train, court documents allege.
At least one of those shots connected with the victim, police said. Nezperce was shot in the neck and died on the train. Police boarded at the Westgate station — which immediately follows the Prospect Park station — and found the victim already deceased, according to charging documents obtained by the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
The surveillance footage that showed Edwards initially board the train also showed him "spitting voluminously" on the ground at the station before getting on, according to the charging documents. Investigators took a sample of that saliva and obtained a DNA profile, police said.
Investigators also checked the records of the To-Go card the suspect used to ride the train. That same transit card was used on a bus in September, police said. The bus ride occurred in Maplewood, a medium-sized city just north of St. Paul.
When canvassing the Maplewood area, police obtained surveillance footage from the local Hy-Vee grocery store. In that footage, Edwards is seen walking to the Advance Auto Parts next door, according to law enforcement. When questioned, a security guard at the grocery store said the defendant works at the auto parts store, police said.
After that, investigators were able to identify Edwards by name. Next, law enforcement learned the defendant had been pulled over for an alleged traffic violation by police over the summer while driving his mother's car and smoking a wood-tipped cigar.
Police then performed a "garbage pull" at the defendant's mother's residence — where a witness said he was living — and found six wood-tipped cigar mouthpieces that had been thrown out. From those discarded mouthpieces, police collected additional saliva and obtained another DNA profile, according to the charging documents.
"The profile was consistent with the male DNA profile obtained from the spittle left by the shooter at the U.S. Bank Stadium Station," a criminal complaint filed against Edwards reads.
The defendant was arrested this week.
"I appreciate the solid police work of our investigators and the partnership with Metro Transit in keeping our city safe," interim Minneapolis Police Chief Bill Peterson said in a press release. "Their commitment to pursuing justice and holding those responsible accountable is a testament to their service to our community."
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