Wedding Celebration Turns Violent: Guest Shot After Argument with Groom
A disturbing incident occurred at a wedding in Keller Lake Regional Park in Maplewood, where a guest pulled out a gun and shot a man who was arguing with the groom. According to charges filed on Friday, the shooting happened on September 27 at around 5:30 p.m. Police were called to the scene and found a 36-year-old St. Paul man on the ground in the parking lot with gunshot wounds.
Good Samaritans had removed their belts and wrapped them around the man’s legs to stop the bleeding. He was taken to Regions Hospital, where he received treatment and survived the incident. The man’s 7-year-old daughter, who was present at the wedding, told officers that her dad was talking to the groom and that it looked like they might be getting into an argument.
A third man, later identified as Stephan Andrew James, approached the two men. The girl thought he was going to intervene and split them up, but instead, James pulled out a handgun and shot her father, according to a criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court. Witnesses told police that James then ran across the parking lot and got into a Dodge SUV, leaving the scene after a woman and three children got inside the vehicle.
Stephan Andrew James (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigation and Arrest
An investigator spoke to the wedding photographer, who said he saw the St. Paul man and the groom hug and walk a short distance. He heard shouting and saw James shove the man, then heard “two bangs,” according to the complaint. A police canine located a 9 mm Hornady casing in the grass off the walking path near the park’s pavilion.
The groom told an investigator that the St. Paul man, who was not invited to the wedding, approached him and was “aggressive and mad” because the groom had not attended a funeral. The groom claimed he did not see the shooting, only heard it. At the hospital, the St. Paul man told an investigator that he went to the wedding to pick up his girlfriend and kids and took the opportunity to talk to the groom about missing a funeral and not having his kids in the wedding.
He claimed the groom shoved him, but denied that he verbally or physically responded. He said the shooter pulled out a gun and told him, “We aren’t playing that (expletive)” before firing. He identified James as the shooter through photos provided to police. Police conducted surveillance on James and arrested him on Wednesday after pulling over a vehicle in St. Paul.
Charges and Conviction
James, 33, was charged with one count each of first- and second-degree assault. His bail was set at $250,000, and he remains jailed. A message seeking comment on the charges was left with his attorney. James has one prior criminal conviction: gross misdemeanor possession of a pistol without a permit in 2018 in Ramsey County.
According to the complaint, James told investigators that he went to the wedding in a Dodge Durango but couldn’t specifically say where he went afterward. He then asked for an attorney and told investigators that if they “talked with other people, you should understand I’m not a bad person or aggressor.” A black Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun was found under the front passenger seat where James had been sitting, with three of the seven rounds marked with Hornady headstamps.
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