An 18-year-old Duluth man is facing four felony charges in adult court over a shooting that left a 46-year-old man wounded outside a downtown bar back in May. Dominic Keith Nagle, who was 17 at the time of the alleged shooting, had his case moved from juvenile court to St. Louis County District Court, where charges were formally filed on October 23.
The charges include second-degree attempted murder, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, intentional discharge of a firearm that endangered safety, and possession of a pistol by someone under 18, according to fox21online.com. Nagle was previously charged with the same crime as a juvenile before his case was certified for adult court. Court documents obtained by MN Crime lay out a detailed sequence of events pieced together from surveillance footage, witness accounts and digital evidence.
What Happened Outside R.T. Quinlan's Saloon
Duluth Police responded to a shooting report at R.T. Quinlan's Saloon on West Superior Street, with fox21online.com reporting the call came in around 9:38 p.m. on May 9, while a separate report from the outlet put the call at approximately 9:40 p.m. to the 220 West Superior Street address, where the bar is located. Either way, officers arriving at the scene found the victim lying on the sidewalk near the saloon with a gunshot wound to the upper right chest, according to the complaint. The man, a 46-year-old Duluth resident, suffered what fox21online.com described as extensive injuries and was transported to Essentia Health by emergency medical services for treatment.
The victim told officers that an unknown male had shot him, per the complaint. City surveillance video reportedly showed the victim interacting with a Black male walking past the saloon before the suspect crossed Superior Street to meet that man. The two then walked back across the street toward the Holiday gas station, with the victim following them from a distance, according to the complaint cited by MN Crime. The suspect allegedly produced what appeared to be a pistol and fired a single shot at the victim, who then walked back across the street and briefly entered the saloon before collapsing on the sidewalk, where he lay until officers arrived.
Fleeing Suspects and a Discarded Sweatshirt
According to the complaint, the shooter ran west on Superior Street and then up 3rd Avenue West, while the Black male who had been with him fled up North 3rd Avenue West in a different direction. A witness described the shooter as wearing a black sweatshirt, white pants and red shoes. Police later found a red sweatshirt and facemask discarded behind a garbage can about a block from the shooting scene, in the direction investigators say the suspect had fled.
Investigators recovered high-quality security-camera images of both men, the complaint states, and the Duluth News Tribune reported that the suspect was eventually identified through a combination of surveillance video, interviews, social media and police databases. Investigators have said initial information indicated the shooting was preceded by an argument between the two parties, but the Duluth News Tribune reported that a motive and any relationship between the suspect and victim had not been made clear.
How a Nickname Led to an Arrest
The break in identifying the shooter reportedly came through the second man seen in the surveillance footage. A close friend of that man told investigators he would have been with someone known as “Dae Dae” that night, and identified Dae Dae as the shooter captured in the surveillance images, per the complaint. The friend also showed investigators an Instagram message he had sent shortly after the shooting that referenced police activity, and he provided a Facebook profile for Dae Dae that matched the suspect's appearance in the footage.
Per the complaint, the friend said Dae Dae's legal first name was Dominic, with a middle initial of K and last initial of N. Police determined that Dominic Keith Nagle was the only male in Duluth matching those initials. Investigators then compared a recent photograph of Nagle to the surveillance images and noted a distinctive mole on his chin that matched the man seen in the footage.
St. Louis County Attorney's Office requested and received an arrest warrant on May 13, and phone-location data reportedly led investigators to a rural area near the Town of Gordon, Wisconsin, where Nagle was arrested on May 14, according to fox21online.com.
Case Now Moves Through Adult Court
St. Louis County, Minnesota's largest county by area, stretches from Duluth to the Canadian border, and its felony cases are prosecuted through the state's Sixth Judicial District at courthouses in Duluth, Hibbing and Virginia. Nagle's case will proceed through that system following his certification to adult court.
Minnesota law generally restricts firearm possession by people under 18, though the statute recognizes certain exceptions, according to the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes. Separately, state juvenile-court law allows a case to be certified for adult prosecution when the alleged offense would be a felony if committed by an adult, per the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes.
