ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) - Bail was set at $2 million Friday for a St. Cloud man charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old man outside a Sartell strip mall.
Demetreus Anthony McGinnis, 23, made his first court appearance in Stearns County after being charged with second-degree murder.
McGinnis is accused of shooting Maurice Galvin Jr., of St. Cloud, in the chest near a Sprint store at about noon Thursday. Galvin later died at St. Cloud hospital.
Prosecutors asked for high bail, arguing that McGinnis poses a threat to public safety. But defense attorney Jason Migala told the St. Cloud Times that McGinnis acted in self-defense.
Judge Kris Davick-Halfen set bail at $2 million with no conditions, or $1 million with conditions. The defense argued for $50,000 bail, saying McGinnis was working at the Sprint store Thursday when two men came to rob him, WJON-AM reported.
According to the defense, Galvin pulled out a gun and threatened McGinnis. A struggle ensured, and Galvin was shot.
A driver, who has not been identified, took the victim to CentraCare Health Plaza in St. Cloud, according to Sartell police. From there, he was taken by ambulance to St. Cloud Hospital, where he died about 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Sartell Police Chief Jim Hughes said the shooting was not random and that Galvin and McGinnis knew each other.
Officers cordoned off an area Thursday around the Sprint store and evacuated surrounding businesses in the Pinecone Marketplace mall. Sartell schools were secured during the incident, and students were not allowed out of the building.
McGinnis remained in jail Friday. He is due back in court March 28.
Police still have not found the gun used in the shooting.
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