One of the two teenagers accused of carrying out a shooting that killed one and injured six more at a backyard concert in Minneapolis last year now stands charged as an adult.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office filed the charging documents Tuesday against Dominic James Burris, 18, of Hinckley, Minn. He faces one count of second-degree murder and six counts of felony assault from the shooting on Aug. 11, 2023, at the DIY pop-up punk venue known as "Nudieland" that was an LGBTQ-friendly community.
Nicholas August Golden, 35, was killed when shots were fired into a crowd that was celebrating a birthday and watching live music in the 2200 block of 16th Avenue S.
Golden was a musician and songwriter and deeply involved in the punk scene in Minneapolis and around the country. A fundraiser for Golden's girlfriend and the other victims of the shooting raised more than $200,000.
The other teenager charged in the shooting is Cyrell Ernest Boyd, 18, of Onamia, Minn. His case continues to move through the juvenile system. Boyd is charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder, along with six felony charges of aiding and abetting assault.
Burris and Boyd were 17 at the time of the shooting.
According to court documents:
Burris and Boyd came to the show, made advances toward a woman they did not know and became hostile when she rejected those advances. She noticed they had guns and commented on it. One of the two teens told her, "we're not going to use the gun or anything, but if need be we will." Other witnesses heard Burris and Boyd using hateful epithets to describe the sexual orientation of people in the crowd.
After Burris and Boyd left the party, gunshots rang out less than a minute later from behind a fence in a neighbor's yard.
Investigators used surveillance video, forensic evidence and witness statements to build their case against Burris and Boyd, including DNA from a cigarette that matched Boyd's. They found eight 9mm shell casings and one .380 caliber shell casing in a neighbor's yard. Surveillance video showed two people matching the physical description of Burris and Boyd walking from the Little Earth community toward the party.
When Burris and Boyd were first arrested, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said there was not enough information to know whether it was a hate crime. Minnesota law doesn't allow for standalone hate crime charges, but bias can be an aggravating factor and lead to a harsher sentence.
As a juvenile, Burris was charged with fourth-degree assault of a peace officer in Beltrami County, fourth-degree assault of a peace officer in Pine County and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in Pine County. Boyd had no criminal history except for a speeding ticket in Crow Wing County.
Burris is scheduled to make his first court appearance on the adult charges today.
Star Tribune staff writer Kim Hyatt contributed to this report.
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