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A longtime suspect was charged with murder Monday in the drive-by shooting of a 2-year-old whose death came to symbolize the indiscriminate gun violence plaguing parts of Minneapolis.
Detectives have long believed that Chris Welch fired the bullet that mortally wounded Le'Vonte King Jason Jones on July 8, 2016, as he rode in a van with his 15-year-old sister and their father, Melvonte Peterson. Welch, 34, who was charged Monday with second-degree murder in Jones' death, is serving a federal prison term on unrelated gun charges.

At an afternoon news conference at police headquarters, officials said the charges had been a long time coming.
"We know that violence in any community affects everyone," Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said. "This case, however, involved the most vulnerable of our community, and that's our children. When children are shot and killed, our entire city mourns."
Welch is believed to have had a grudge against Peterson who is alleged to have stolen from him. Le'Vonte was hit in the chest and died from his injuries, while his sister was hit in the leg.
Welch was initially arrested in 2016 over the shooting but was later released due to a lack of evidence. However, recently witnesses came forward to inform police that Peterson had stolen from Welch, and Welch had also previously said he would kill Peterson.

Police also spoke with several additional witnesses who were with, or spoke with Welch about the shooting, although the first major breakthrough came last year after investigators re-interviewed people who had been with Welch on the day of the shooting itself.
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Days before the start of his trial, charges have been dropped against a man accused of murdering a toddler during a gun battle in north Minneapolis in 2016.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office says Chris Maurice Welch is no longer charged with second-degree murder in connection to the death of 2-year-old Le’Vonte Jones because five witnesses critical to the case are either dead, incarcerated, missing or unwilling to testify.
“Without these key witnesses, the State does not have any evidence to present at trial to identify Defendant as the person who committed the crime,” wrote County Attorney Mike Freeman in a court filing. “Therefore, the State has insufficient evidence to prove Defendant guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the alleged offense. Accordingly, the State has no other option left but dismiss the charges.”
Freeman says Jones’s father — the intended target of the shooting — cannot be found, and has “repeatedly refused to cooperate with the investigation” and “has remained uncooperative since the date of the incident and has provided numerous inconsistent versions of the events of that day.”
On July 8, 2016, Le’Vonte Jones was sitting in his dad’s minivan near Penn and Lowry avenues. Surveillance video shows a sedan pull up alongside them before shots are fired — 11 in total. Jones died from a gunshot wound to the chest. A 15-month-old child who was also in the car was shot in the leg, but survived.
Welch was arrested in 2016, but enough evidence wasn’t available to file a charge until 2019.

“A number of witnesses have come forward finally. It was a difficult case to put together,” Freeman said back in 2019.
Welch, who is serving a 17-year federal sentence outside of Minnesota for firearm possession by a career criminal, was set to be brought back to Minneapolis for his trial, which was scheduled to begin next Monday.


“This office is very disappointed that we were forced to dismiss the murder charges in the Welch case,” Freeman said. “Full community support is necessary to bring the killers of little children to justice and we hope people will be forthcoming in the future in other cases.”
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