Fridley Felon Fires on 11-Year-Old, Gets Ammo Charge

MINNEAPOLIS – James William Turner, a 44-year-old Fridley man, thought he could get away with firing multiple shots from an AR-style rifle on a New Year’s Day morning, striking an 11-year-old child in the face.

But Turner’s luck ran out when he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of ammunition as a felon in U.S. District Court before Judge Ann D. Montgomery. According to court documents, Turner has prior felony convictions, which makes him prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition at any time.

Just after midnight on January 1, 2024, officers of the Minneapolis Police Department received a report of a shooting at a residence in north Minneapolis. When officers arrived at the scene, a woman told them that shots had been fired outside the residence and a round had struck her 11-year-old child in the face.

The minor victim was sitting in a second-story bedroom when they heard gunshots outside the residence at approximately midnight. The minor victim went to the window to observe when a round came through the window and hit them in the face. Fortunately, the child’s injuries are not life-threatening.

According to court documents, officers obtained a Snapchat video of Turner that was filmed just prior to the shooting. The two-minute video showed Turner outside, near the victim’s residence, speaking angrily to the camera before panning it to show an AR-style rifle lying across the driver’s seat of a vehicle. A neighbor provided officers with a doorbell surveillance video that showed Turner fire multiple rounds in the direction of the victim’s bedroom window.

Officers found eight live cartridges and 24 discharged cartridge casings throughout the boulevard, sidewalk, and yard. This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Minneapolis Police Department, with assistance from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristian C.S. Weir is prosecuting the case.