On December 12, 2022, 21-year-old Ellijah Marquise Payne was among two men shot inside a building at East 5th and Cedar streets in Saint Paul. Payne and 18-year-old David Burton Johnson were found with gunshot wounds in the skyway connector tower that links the station stairwell and elevator to the Green Line’s Central Station. Both were taken to Regions Hospital and later pronounced dead; their killings were recorded as the city’s 36th and 37th homicides for 2022.

The Metro Transit and Saint Paul police departments, assisted by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, reviewed multiple security cameras at the scene and described the shooting as not believed to be random. Investigators publicly identified 26-year-old Martin Orea as the main suspect and warned he was considered armed and dangerous. No arrest had been announced as of the latest information.

If anyone has information about Ellijah Payne, where he spent his time that evening, or details about the connector tower, please come forward.