Michael Alexander Pleasants, 33, was found fatally shot in the early hours of April 26, 2022, on the 200 block of Bates Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota. Officers responding to a report of a gunshot found him lying in the street next to a car; paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. Surveillance video showed Pleasants standing with two men and handing one of them a brown bag, then moments later on the ground after being shot.

Investigators connected Pleasants’ contacts to Traivon Dennis Campbell, 22, who had asked if Pleasants had marijuana in $100 quantities; Pleasants said he only had a pound and would sell it for $1,300. Campbell became upset when shown messages and surveillance photos and said he did not know his accomplice, Kemarri Miller Roan, 19, would shoot Pleasants. Roan admitted shooting Pleasants in the back of the head during the marijuana deal.

Roan reached a plea agreement admitting to second-degree intentional murder and received a 19-year sentence with credit for 447 days served. Campbell pleaded guilty to second-degree unintentional murder, agreed to testify, and was sentenced to 10 years and six months. Did anyone in the neighborhood see activity on Bates Avenue that night or recognize the two men in the surveillance footage?