A Minneapolis man already on federal supervised release for trafficking fentanyl and cocaine has been charged with second-degree assault and illegal firearm possession after investigators say a license plate camera and a trail of shell casings connected him to a shooting that left a man wounded and three parked cars riddled with bullets on Oliver Avenue North.
Minneapolis police responded to a shooting report in the 1200 block of Oliver Avenue North on July 20 at approximately 9:45 p.m., according to FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul. The victim told investigators he was sitting in front of his house with another man when he was shot, per the criminal complaint, and he suffered a gunshot wound to the left arm. Investigators recovered about 35 spent bullet casings at the scene along with fired bullets and bullet fragments, and gunfire struck three parked cars.
Minneapolis SWAT arrested 28-year-old Ananias Cortez Williams on August 19 and served a search warrant at his home the same day, the station's report states. Williams now faces charges of second-degree assault and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person, filed in Hennepin County court.
How the Camera Network Pointed to a Suspect
According to the criminal complaint, surveillance footage showed a dark Ford Explorer traveling south along Penn Avenue North and Plymouth roughly ten minutes before the shooting. The vehicle had distinctive features — silver roof rails, chrome trim on the lower passenger doors, and unique five-spoke rims — that investigators used to track it. An automatic license plate reader camera showed the registered owner of that Explorer, and Minneapolis police told the outlet the vehicle had been stopped by officers about a month before the shooting, with Williams identified as the driver and sole occupant during that earlier stop, when he was wearing a ski mask.
The Explorer's registered owner was also connected to a Glock 19 handgun that had been recovered in a 2023 case and released back to its owner in 2025. Investigators found that Williams shares a cell phone account with the Explorer owner and Glock 19 owner, and that he has a child with that same woman, per the report.
Ballistics and Cell Phone Data Tie the Case Together
A 9mm discharged cartridge casing linked the Glock 19 to three other shootings in 2026, with one of those incidents involving the same suspect vehicle, according to the complaint. That kind of cross-case matching relies on the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which converts shell casing toolmarks into digital 3D images so investigators can compare firing pin and ejector signatures across crime databases before a firearm is even recovered, according to the Annandale Police Department.
Investigators also located Williams' cell phone number through Hennepin County supervised release paperwork. An electronic tracking warrant showed his phone was near the shooting scene eight minutes before shots were fired, and again at 9:39 p.m. that night, per the complaint.
Williams' Account and His Criminal History
According to the complaint, Williams admitted he went with a friend to visit women near the Oliver Avenue North address and said he parked a block away because sometimes women set them up. He claimed two men were outside when he approached, that one made a motion toward his waistband, and that one of the males became aggressive — with one man reportedly asking, “Who are y'all here for, what's going on, why are y'all here?” Williams said things escalated, that he could have back-peddled and tried to leave, but instead said he pulled a Glock 19 from his waistband and fired.
Williams' record includes a December 2023 federal sentence of 135 months in prison and five years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota. That case stemmed from an interception on I-35 near the Iowa border, where he and a co-defendant were transporting 4.4 kilograms of fentanyl pills and nearly a kilogram of cocaine from California. It was that federal supervision status that gave investigators access to the phone number tying him to the scene.
His history with firearms goes back further. At 17, Williams was charged with second-degree manslaughter after accidentally shooting and killing his 18-year-old friend during a gun exchange inside a vehicle outside a gas station in Crystal, Minnesota, according to FOX 9's 2017 reporting; he served 33 months of a 50-month sentence and told investigators at the time he tried to dispose of the firearms before reaching the hospital because he was already on juvenile probation. He was later convicted of third-degree felony burglary in November 2021 for breaking into a south Minneapolis pharmacy during the civil unrest that followed the police shooting of Daunte Wright, according to Alpha News. Under Minnesota Statute § 609.222, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon carries a maximum of seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine, while felon-in-possession charges carry a mandatory minimum five-year sentence under Minn. Stat. § 609.11, according to Sieben Cotter Law.
A Tool Under Fire Elsewhere in the State
Minneapolis police are crediting the arrest to what the department calls an indispensable combination of automatic license plate reader cameras and ballistic evidence, even as the technology faces mounting resistance elsewhere in Minnesota. The Minneapolis Police Department operates ALPR cameras across 30 city intersections, logging data on more than 31 million vehicle passes over just a two-month span earlier this year, according to Unicorn Riot. Under state law, agencies must destroy non-investigative ALPR data within 60 days of collection.
That retention window has become a flashpoint at the Capitol. Minnesota lawmakers debated bills earlier this year, including HF 3856 and SF 4739, that would have slashed the retention period to just 48 hours and centralized database management under the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, but the effort stalled in committee after a party-line deadlock. Hoodline previously covered the push to limit tracking.
Meanwhile, several suburban Twin Cities communities have gone the opposite direction. Columbia Heights removed 12 city-owned cameras and Sherburne County decommissioned nine units this month amid privacy backlash and worries over out-of-state data sharing, as Hoodline has reported. A March 2026 ACLU audit found that out-of-state and federal agencies made nearly 300,000 monthly search queries against Minnesota's ALPR databases, including some tied to civil immigration enforcement — even though state law restricts centralized repositories while still allowing cross-agency sharing for active criminal cases.
The Oliver Avenue North shooting was first reported by Hoodline in July, before police had identified or arrested a suspect. Williams' arrest now closes that gap, giving Minneapolis police a high-profile example to point to as they defend the surveillance tools that neighboring jurisdictions are actively dismantling.
