Police Asking for Help Finding Alleged Gunman in Avon Shooting

Originally posted March 10th, 2022 at 3:37 p.m.

Updated March 11th, 2022 10:35 a.m.

(KNSI) — Police are asking for the public’s help to find the alleged gunman in a Tuesday morning shooting in Avon.

Police say 21-year-old Emmanuel Galen Johnson of St. Cloud is accused of shooting an 18-year-old man in a car during a gun sale.

The alleged driver of that car, Grant Alexander Monaghan, reportedly turned himself in to police and, according to the criminal complaint, told them he and a person is known by the street name Smurf drove to Avon on March 8th to sell a ghost gun to someone. Police say a ghost gun is built from individual parts bought off the internet and later assembled, so they are not traceable.

Just before 9:30, the 18-year-old buyer got into the car’s rear passenger seat, which was in the 300 block of Char Avenue Northeast. He said Johnson had a gun in his hand when the 18-year-old handed him $800. He said as soon as Johnson got the money, a shot was fired through the car’s passenger seat and into the back seat where the buyer was sitting. After he was shot, Monaghan said he ran from the car, and Johnson demanded he drive away.

Police say the two fled the scene and drove to St. Cloud, where they cleaned out the car and ditched it at a family member’s house. Monaghan said Johnson was looking for the spent shell casing from the shooting, and he also removed the gun the victim had but dropped after he was shot.

Upon further examination of the car, police say they found a bullet hole in the front passenger seat. The trajectory is consistent with a shot being fired toward the back seat.

The criminal complaint says the victim “suffered significant injuries to his upper chest area” and was airlifted from the scene to North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale. The criminal complaint says he underwent surgery in the hours following the shooting. At the time of the criminal complaint filing on March 10th, he “remains heavily sedated and intubated following extensive medical intervention.”

Anyone with information in the case is asked to contact the Avon Police at 320-356-7575 or the Stearns County Sheriff’s Department at 320-251-4240.

Monaghan is charged with aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery with a dangerous weapon and aiding and abetting second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. Bail was set at $100,000.

Monaghan had just gotten out of jail after being arrested and charged with two counts of misdemeanor domestic assault, interfering with a 911 call, and drug possession following a physical altercation at a home in St. Cloud on February 21st.

___