Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charges additional individual involved in attack on St. Anne’s Place

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has charged Travin Willie Merritt, 30, in connection with the Sept. 5 attack on a shelter for unhoused families, St. Anne’s Place.

Mr. Merritt is charged with four counts of second-degree assault, one count of second-degree riot, and one count of carrying a firearm without a permit.

“Mr. Merritt’s actions were reprehensible,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. “This was a violent attack at a shelter housing some of our most vulnerable community members. It is unacceptable, and we will hold Mr. Merritt accountable.”

According to the complaint:

On Sept. 5, 2024, Minneapolis police responded to a disturbance outside St. Anne’s Place. Officers entered the building and reviewed surveillance footage of the disturbance.

The footage shows shelter residents running into St. Anne’s Place shortly before Mr. Merritt walked toward the building and pointed a firearm toward the front door. Two victims — one of them holding an infant — were standing just inside the door. The footage also shows Mr. Merritt firing a gun at an unoccupied car owned by one of the victims.

After reviewing the surveillance video, officers spoke to a victim, who said that she and another victim got into an altercation earlier that night with a group of women from across the street. Mr. Merritt hit one of the victims in the face and back of the head with a black handgun. He hit another victim in the back of the head with the gun several times, and then fired two shots in the air.

The victims retreated into the building chased by the group of women from across the street. An employee of St. Anne’s said she helped the victims close the door behind them to prevent the other group from chasing them inside. She heard Mr. Merritt threaten to shoot women and children.

Mr. Merritt was previously erroneously identified as another individual with a similar physical description, similar vehicle, and a known relationship to the co-defendant in this matter, Eureka Riser. Subsequent investigation revealed that this other individual was in another location at the time and was not involved.

Mr. Merritt was placed under arrest on Oct. 1.

He remains in custody on a separate case.

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