A Cottage Grove man has admitted in court to taking part in a shootout outside a high school graduation party in Woodbury last year that killed his 14-year-old stepson.
Keith Dawson, 36, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of drive-by shooting, just over a month before his case was scheduled to go to trial in Washington County District Court.
A plea agreement Dawson reached with prosecutors calls for a maximum of nearly nine years in prison, but also allows his defense attorney to argue for a mandatory minimum of five years at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Jan. 6 before Judge Francis Green III.
Dawson’s stepson, Demaris Ekdahl, of Maplewood, was killed in the shootout, which Dawson admitted he started by firing the first shots after the boy called him and said he and his brother “were getting robbed” while leaving the graduation party, according to court documents.
Dawson’s attorney Travis Kowitz had planned to bring a self-defense claim to trial, which was scheduled to begin Nov. 28, under the argument that Dawson was acting in the defense of Ekdahl and his brother.
On Wednesday, Kowitz declined to comment on the case, other than to say that Dawson “is taking responsibility for his actions and will face the consequences.”
Also charged in connection with the shooting were Enrique L. Davila, 25, Xavier L. Hudson, 19, and Jaden L. Townsend, 20. All three were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.
In June, Townsend, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty to the assault charge and was sentenced to three years in prison.
The cases are pending against Davila and Hudson, both of St. Paul.
According to court documents, Davila, Hudson and Townsend allegedly confronted another group of young people, which included Ekdahl and his brother, with guns near the party in the 6100 block of Edgewood Road at approximately 10:30 p.m. June 5, 2021. Davila pulled a gun on Ekdahl’s brother, while Townsend slapped him across the face.
Ekdahl and his friends then left the party and Ekdahl called his stepdad and told him about the confrontation. Dawson encouraged his stepson and his brother to return to the party so the perpetrators “would stop messing with them,” according to the criminal complaint against him.
Dawson drove his SUV to the party, while Ekdahl and his friends followed closely behind in a car. When they arrived at the party, Davila, Townsend and Hudson were standing near an SUV parked on the street.
Dawson admitted that he fired six or seven shots toward the group, according to the complaint. Someone in the group returned fire, striking Ekdahl in the back as he rode in the car that was trailing Dawson’s SUV. The bullet passed through Ekdahl’s right lung and his heart; he was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital.
Investigators found about 40 bullet casings at the scene, as well as bullet holes in several homes and vehicles near the scene.