HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 07-07 In Maplewood burglary, shooting death, 1 takes plea for his role PIONEER PRESS7/11/2016 Maplewood, MN, shooting death, burglary: 1 takes plea
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PUBLISHED: July 7, 2016 at 1:39 pm I UPDATED: July 7, 2016 at 2:02 pm
A North Branch man admitted Thursday to participating in a botched burglary in November that left a Maplewood
father dead of a gunshot wound.
Bradley James Cook, 35, pleaded guilty in Ramsey County District Court to a charge of aiding and abetting burglary
in the first degree in the Nov. 7 incident that ended in the death of Justin Niles Wright, 31.
Under terms of a plea agreement, charges against Cook of aiding and abetting murder in the second degree will be
dismissed and he will serve a ane-yearjail sentence as long as he testifies against his accomplices in the crime.
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7/11/2016
Maplewood, MN, shooting death, burglary: 1 takes plea
Two other men have been charged in the case. Brandon Lamar Cooper, 31, has been charged with two counts of
second-degree murder. He is accused of shooting Wright. Ernest Donald Atchison Jr., 33, of St. Paul, is charged with
aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
During his plea hearing Thursday, Cook said he, Cooper and Atchison were involved in a plan to burglarize a home
in the 2200 block of Hazel Street in Maplewood early on the morning of Nov. 7.
Cook said Atchison told him 50 pounds of marijuana were in the home's garage and he was looking for someone to
steal it. Cook said he was interested in buying some of the marijuana, and he called Cooper, an acquaintance, to
participate.
Cook said he met with Cooper, Atchison and two other men and helped drive them to the house. He said he later
picked up Atchison and another man as they ran from the house. He said the men told them that someone was
shot at the house. Cook said he later talked to Cooper, who admitted shooting a man at the house.
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According to criminal complaints, when Wright confronted a man in the hallway, he was shot once in the chest and
bled to death.
Wright's girlfriend, who was also in the house, told police that she and Wright were selling marijuana from the
house and that she had told some of her customers that Wright kept significant amounts of marijuana at the
house, according to the complaint.
Cook is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 4.
Tags: Crime, Maplewood, Ramsey County
Richard Chin
Richard has written the only newspaper correction/clarification at the Pioneer Press in the form of a limerick, and is responsible
forth first use of "snot rocket" in the paper. In the furtherance of journalism, he has flown on the Goodyear Blimp, driven the
Weinermobile, was mistaken for a serial killer, appeared at a Saints game dressed as a urine specimen mascot costume, helped a
Lutheran pastor build her coff in and once won the Wisconsin Wife Carrying Championship.
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