Lashonda Nix, 40, was shot and killed at her home in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood of Saint Paul on December 19, 2022. The shooting occurred in the 600 block of Cook Avenue East after someone knocked on her door; witnesses say Nix pulled the shade aside and was shot in the head. Her other son, who was upstairs playing games, heard three loud bangs at the door and saw his mother get shot when she looked through the curtain.

Court documents name 41-year-old Curtrez D. Johnson as the suspect, charging him with second-degree murder. Investigators say surveillance footage and cell phone data placed Johnson in the area that evening. He was arrested on December 27, 2022, while at a shopping center and denied killing Nix or hearing gunshots when interviewed. Reports link the shooting to an earlier December 13 assault at the same residence in which Johnson’s 18-year-old son was shot in the face; witnesses say Johnson believed Nix was somehow responsible.

Does anyone who lived in Payne-Phalen that week have information about the events around Cook Avenue East on December 19, 2022?