What started as a fight outside an ARCO in St. Paul’s Payne-Phalen neighborhood ended with a prison sentence on Monday, March 2, 2026, when Ramsey County District Judge DeAnne Hilgers ordered 33-year-old Antonio Allen Ellis to serve three years behind bars. Ellis had pleaded guilty to second-degree assault after firing at two men during the confrontation. Both men survived with non-life-threatening injuries, one shot in the knee and the other in the lower back.
Judge Rejects Probation After Plea
Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Cory Tennison urged the court to send Ellis to prison for 39 months, arguing that the shooting, paired with Ellis’s probation status, called for time in custody, according to Pioneer Press. Defense attorney Ira Whitlock countered that Ellis fired in self-defense, while acknowledging that bringing a gun into the dispute escalated the situation. Judge Hilgers was not swayed by the push for probation and instead imposed the three-year prison term in Ramsey County District Court.
Surveillance Video And Evidence Outline The Shooting
Surveillance footage captured the run-up to the gunfire, according to the Star Tribune. A man walked into the store, argued with employees and was escorted outside. A second man then jumped out of an SUV and joined the fight in front of the gas station. Investigators later recovered 14 spent shell casings outside the store, along with a Glock handgun and an empty magazine, the reporting says. Officers did not find any firearms on the two wounded men, who were both taken to Regions Hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening.
Plea, Probation And Prior Conviction
Ellis admitted in January to two counts of second-degree assault causing substantial bodily harm and returned to court Monday to be sentenced under that plea agreement, according to Pioneer Press. Court records show Ellis was already on felony probation that barred him from having a gun because of a prior conviction linked to an undercover prostitution sting, something prosecutors argued made the case especially serious. Prosecutors said Ellis fired 14 rounds at the men as they backed away. Ellis later turned himself in to St. Paul police but declined to speak with investigators.
Local Context
The case first drew public attention when Hoodline reported on the employee’s December 2024 arrest at the same ARCO on Larpenteur Avenue. Monday’s sentencing is effectively the epilogue to that earlier chapter, closing out a case that has highlighted ongoing concerns about workplace safety and the risks faced by public-facing employees when tense encounters turn into gunfire.
Next Steps
Ellis will serve his three-year term in state prison and could face supervised release or other conditions once that sentence is finished. Any appeal or post-sentencing filings will appear on the Ramsey County District Court docket.
