Minnesota gang war at center of Naressa Turner murder case
St. Paul police arrested a Chicago man as the latest move in the ongoing investigation in the shooting of Naressa Turner.
Police arrested Joseph Campbell, 20, on November 26 after his indictment earlier this month by a Ramsey County grand jury. The suspected shooter appeared in Ramsey County District Court on Tuesday afternoon.
Cornelius Bell
Cornelius Bell has already been apprehended by authorities in connection to Turner’s murder, which now appears to be a small puzzle piece in a violent gang war.
According to court papers, Turner was believed or perceived to have information about the Feb. 19 unsolved murder of Dominic Neeley, identified in court documents as a member of the East Side Boyz gang.
Campbell is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree murder with intent and two counts of committing a crime for the benefit of a gang.
Witnesses told police that members of the East Side Boyz were seen in the area where Turner was shot.
For several years, the East Size Boyz “had a violent feud with another St. Paul gang known as the Selby Siders or its recent offshoot gangs,” court documents say. They also say many slayings in recent years were motivated by retaliation between the gangs.
Bell has been described in court papers as “an associate” of the East Side Boyz gang.
He is charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for the benefit of a gang, aiding an offender to avoid arrest and two counts of aiding an offender accomplice after the fact. He has two convictions for selling marijuana and another for contempt of court.
Family of Turner have been vocal that the young woman feared for her life and was receiving death threats via Facebook and social media, all of which led to her relocation to Atlanta. She was visiting family in St. Paul and murdered during that visit.
Court documents say Turner was sitting in a car in an alley in the 900 block of Reaney Avenue the afternoon of Oct. 14 when a masked shooter opened a back door, uttered Turner’s nickname, “Nu Nu,” then fired repeatedly with a small handgun. Turner died at the scene.
Neeley’s mother, Tonya Buckley, said she didn’t know Turner or the men charged in her death. Allegations that Turner’s slaying was linked to Neeley’s, and that a larger culture of gang violence and intimidation played a role, are difficult for Buckley to buy, she said.
“My son was getting dropped off to visit some friends when he was murdered, and it was broad daylight,” Buckley said.
