A 23-year-old Minneapolis man is facing felony charges after police say he fired several shots at a car outside a Saint Paul home on the night of September 28, sending the woman inside fleeing into the night and leaving a bullet fragment lodged in her pocket. Dsean Daniel Larkins now faces two counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in Ramsey County District Court.
According to the criminal complaint detailed by mncrime.com, police responded to a home in Saint Paul at about 12:30 a.m. that Tuesday after a report of an assault involving a firearm. The victim told officers the shooting had actually happened the previous night, as she was getting ready to go bowling with a man and Larkins arrived and became upset.
The victim said Larkins fired several shots at her and the man while they sat together in a vehicle outside her residence, and the pair drove away from the scene as the gunfire rang out. It wasn't until later that the woman realized how close she had come to being hit: she felt a tingling sensation in her left leg and discovered a bullet fragment in her pocket, though officers observed no bruising on her.
Shell Casings and a Revealing Phone Call
Neighbors who heard the gunfire collected three shell casings from outside the home, according to the same account. Investigators also had the victim call Larkins directly, a conversation in which he admitted he was angry and asked whether the incident would make him a felon.
The woman told police she and Larkins had two prior occasions when things turned physical between them, including one earlier in 2026 that she said involved strangulation, though she had not reported either incident to police before this case. Larkins declined to provide a statement to officers when first contacted and did not dispute the victim's account at that time, per the report.
Surrender, Denial, and a Lawyer
Larkins eventually agreed to turn himself in, arriving at Saint Paul Police Department headquarters, where he placed an unloaded firearm on the dashboard of his vehicle and signed consent for officers to secure it. But in a later interview, his story shifted. He denied being at the victim's residence at the time of the shooting, claiming he had only stopped by earlier to charge his vehicle, and insisted, “I never said I shot anyone,” before requesting a lawyer and ending the interview.
Larkins was scheduled to make his first court appearance on Thursday, October 1. The charges remain allegations, and as the case page for the matter notes, criminal charges are allegations — defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, per mncrime.com's case tracker.
What the Charges Could Mean
Under Minnesota Statutes section 609.222, a person convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon can face up to seven years in prison, a fine of up to $14,000, or both. State law, outlined in section 609.02, defines a dangerous weapon as including any firearm, whether loaded or unloaded — a definition that would apply regardless of whether the gun Larkins allegedly fired was loaded at the time he later surrendered it.
The case is being handled in Ramsey County, which encompasses Saint Paul and is served by the Ramsey County Attorney's Office. Felony cases like this one are heard in the Second Judicial District at the Ramsey County Courthouse in downtown Saint Paul, while Ramsey County Community Corrections operates the county's correctional facility in Maplewood.
