Cordero Montgomery Jr., a 16-year-old known to his family as “Junior,” was shot 11 times on May 21 while walking toward a bus stop to catch a ride home to St. Paul after visiting a friend in North Minneapolis. He never made it. Now a 19-year-old man is facing murder charges in his death and in a second, unrelated teen killing weeks later, according to court records described by 5 Eyewitness News.
Markez Patton faces one count of second-degree murder and one count of attempted second-degree murder in the shooting outside North High School's football stadium, according to KSTP. Police responded to a reported shooting around 5:30 p.m. on the 1300 block of 18th Avenue North, where officers and paramedics gave first aid to Montgomery, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Montgomery was raised by his foster grandparents, Wendy and James Nelson, according to CBS News.
A second victim, a 44-year-old man, was shot in the leg during the same attack. He told officers he had been outside his girlfriend's house when the shooting occurred, per the station's report. Rather than wait for help at the scene, he drove himself to a nearby gas station at West Broadway and Knox Avenue North before paramedics took him to a hospital, according to the same account from CBS News. Police have not publicly said whether he was an intended target or a bystander caught in the gunfire.
Crashed SUV Led Police to Evidence
An initial 911 call described three suspects running toward a black SUV, and a caller reported that one victim was on the ground, KSTP reports. That SUV later crashed at Plymouth and Irving Avenues, and its occupants ran from the scene. Police searched the vehicle and found four documents bearing Patton's name inside the glove compartment.
Investigators say DNA evidence matched Patton's DNA on the SUV's steering wheel, and cellphone records placed him near the murder scene, according to the station's reporting. A witness told police the shooter fired in quick bursts, consistent with an illegal weapon modification known as a switch, which enables automatic gunfire.
Traffic Stop Led to Ballistics Match
Patton was arrested on July 19 after trying to run from police during a traffic stop, tossing a gun as he fled, per KSTP. That discarded 9mm handgun was equipped with an illegal auto-switch, and ballistics testing matched it to 9mm cartridge casings recovered from the May 21 murder scene, according to the Daily Planet. Patton was initially booked into Hennepin County Jail on weapons and fleeing charges before the murder charge followed.
Patton remains in custody at the Hennepin County Jail with bail set at $1 million, and he is scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon in the Montgomery murder case, according to KSTP.
Second Homicide Charge in Uptown Killing
Patton was separately charged in the June 21 killing of 18-year-old Deonta Young, who was shot in the parking lot of the Wedge Co-op on Lyndale Avenue South. In that case, Patton was charged alongside co-defendants Dashon Lavell Amos, 19, and Deandre Depratto Jr., 21, the Daily Planet reports. Surveillance video allegedly showed a group of five masked individuals approaching the victims before gunfire erupted. Young had recently celebrated his high school graduation and was pronounced dead at Hennepin Healthcare shortly after the 1:20 a.m. shooting, according to the outlet's earlier report.
Under Minnesota Statutes § 609.19, second-degree intentional murder carries a maximum sentence of up to 40 years in prison, according to Keil Defense. Separately, possessing a machine gun conversion kit or auto-sear is its own felony under Minnesota Statutes § 609.67, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine, per the Minnesota Revisor's Office. Minnesota increased those penalties for conversion devices in 2023 to combat rapid-fire illegal modifications.
Part of a Wider Crackdown on Switches
The case fits into a broader regional enforcement push against switch-equipped weapons. In April, federal prosecutors in the District of Minnesota secured a jury conviction against a 19-year-old Minneapolis man for carrying a firearm equipped with an illegal Glock switch near a high school event, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal machine gun possession carries up to 10 years in federal prison.
Montgomery's death marked Minneapolis's 18th homicide of the year, arriving during a period when citywide homicides had dropped roughly 30% compared to the first half of 2025, according to KARE 11. A Council on Criminal Justice report noted similar homicide decreases across major U.S. cities in mid-2026. Still, in the days after Montgomery's killing, local violence-interruption group T.O.U.C.H. Outreach publicly called for strategic community intervention in North Minneapolis, warning of potential retaliatory violence as summer approached, KARE 11 reported. It remains unclear whether prosecutors believe the two shootings tied to Patton were connected to a broader group feud or retaliation, or whether additional suspects from the group near North High School will face charges.
