The client of the bar St. Paul was stalked before robbery and shooting, charges say – Twin Cities

As a 42-year-old man drank at a St. Paul bar, a bartender and a man appeared to be monitoring his movements and communicating with other people, according to charges filed this week. When it came out, it was robbed and shot.

The victim was initially able to talk to police, but went into cardiac arrest and is not expected to survive, the criminal complaint states.

Now, the Ramsey County District Attorney’s Office has charged the bartender and a man. Two other people have also been charged, but their cases remain under seal pending their arrests.

The incident took place on October 30, when the 42-year-old man went to Born’s Bar on St. Paul’s Rice, around 3:45 p.m. She spoke to hospital investigators the next day and said that when she went outside, a short man she didn’t know but had seen around asked her for a cigarette. The people with the man had their hoods up, which he took note of because it wasn’t cold.

He said “the fight started” then and several people were involved. He reported that he was on the ground and money was coming out of his pockets. He believed he had about $4,500 in cash because he had planned to buy “a small bike.”

Someone shouted, “Do it (the complaint)!” and was shot and felt a burn in his stomach.

Officers responded to the bar in reference to a shooting around 5:45 p.m. Oct. 30. The victim was on the ground in front of the bar with a gunshot wound just below the navel. Doctors from the Fire Department took him to the Hospital of the Regions and he immediately went into surgery.

The police found a cross pendant and gold silver necklaces on the ground, which were broken. There was also an iPhone.

Video evidence, phones

The victim told police that the bartender, whom she identified as Erica, was “over-pouring the drinks she made for him,” the complaint said. He paid in cash.

The owner of Born’s Bar declined to comment on the case Friday.

Among the items recovered by police at the scene was a wallet, which the victim told police did not belong to him. Police discovered that he had a driver’s license for Edward G. Robinson, 43, of St. Paul. The iPhone found at the scene belonged to Robinson.

Robinson’s phone indicated that Erica Ruth Hampton, a 41-year-old bartender at Born’s who has a son with Robinson, called him around 4 p.m. Bar surveillance video showed Hampton with a phone to her ear as she mixed drinks at the time.

The video also showed Robinson and Hampton’s 24-year-old son and a man in a pink hoodie arrive at the bar at 4:25 p.m.

The victim bought another drink from Hampton at 4:53 p.m. and went to the patio, where Hampton followed him and apparently texted him on his phone, the complaint said.

At 5:06 p.m., Robinson received a call from a 44-year-old man and then Robinson contacted a 39-year-old man.

At 5:37 p.m., Robinson and the 39-year-old man “appeared on camera and were shown on the sidewalk outside Born’s Bar,” the complaint said. Robinson and Hampton’s son and the man in the pink hoodie got out of a car, which is registered to Hampton.

The 44-year-old texted Robinson at 5:42 p.m. and said, “He’s acting like he’s scared to go out,” and the complaint noted the man was apparently tracking the victim’s location and movements.

Robinson watched through the windows of the bar. The victim left the bar and Robinson soon began fighting with him, the complaint said. The 39-year-old man, Robinson’s son and the man in the pink hoodie “got locked in a fight,” the complaint said. The 39-year-old man pointed a gun at the victim’s head, and the man in the pink hoodie was also holding a gun.

The 39-year-old man put his gun to the victim’s torso and shot him. Analysis of the casing found at the scene showed it was fired from the same gun used in a 2022 Milwaukee fire. The 39-year-old man has ties to that area, the complaint said.

The bartender said he didn’t inform anyone

On Nov. 1, the victim’s wife contacted investigators and reported fluid in her lungs and blood in her stomach. He went into cardiac arrest, but doctors revived him. He was serving a life sentence when the charge was filed against Hampton on Friday.

On Thursday, police arrested Hampton, of St. Paul. She said she was working at the bar on Oct. 30 and the owner called her back “because something was going on with her son and his father,” the complaint said. She said she rushed back to the bar and watched the surveillance footage with the owner.

Hampton said an officer asked the homeowner if he recognized anyone in the surveillance video.

“She didn’t answer the officer’s question because she had nothing to do with it,” the complaint said of her response to police.

Hampton said he remembered the victim being at the bar, but he didn’t leave because she hadn’t worked before then. When police told him that the recordings “appeared to show that he notified his son” as he called him minutes before the victim left the bar, Hampton said he had nothing to do with the incident. She said she didn’t call anyone and tell them about the money the victim had at the bar.

Hampton is charged with aiding a felon – accessory after the fact. Richardson is charged with aiding and abetting first-degree assault and robbery. He has prior convictions for third-degree assault, terroristic threats and federal drug charges, the complaint states.

An attorney for the pair could not be reached for comment Friday.