Man accused of fatally shooting four acquaintances in Minneapolis while sitting in a car with them

A man with a lengthy history of criminal violence was charged with multiple counts of murder after he allegedly shot five acquaintances in the head as he sat with them in a car Tuesday night in south Minneapolis.

Criminal charges were unsealed against James Duane Ortley on Friday for the shooting that has now claimed four lives. The fifth victim remains in the hospital.

The charges allege that Ortley, 34, opened fire from the back seat. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner confirmed the identity of three of the four murder victims: Evan Denny, 27, of St. Paul; Joseph Goodwin, 17, of Minneapolis; and Merelle White, 20, of Red Lake.

Family members confirmed that the fourth victim, who died at HCMC, was 28-year-old Leras Rainey of Minneapolis.

Ortley faces three counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder in Hennepin County District Court. He also faces one count of being a felon in illegal possession of a firearm.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement Friday that charges will be amended to add a fourth count of second-degree murder after it was confirmed late Thursday that Rainey had died.

Police and jail records show that Ortley and Goodwin, one of the murder victims, were arrested in February in relation to a crime spree in south Minneapolis that included a resident being shot through his bedroom window after he went to check on noises in the alley behind his home.

A spokesperson for Minneapolis police said Ortley was arrested in that case and that charging decisions reside with the County Attorney’s Office.

In a statement Friday, the County Attorney’s Office said: “Our office thoroughly reviewed the case submission and determined there was insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Ortley in connection with those incidents.”

The criminal complaint against Ortley in this week’s shooting details how the shooting unfolded in the Midtown neighborhood a little before midnight on Tuesday evening.

According to the charges:

Police arrived on the scene to find five victims inside a car with gunshot wounds to the head.

That victim said there was a single shooter who went by a few aliases — Baby J, Little J and Little James — and that the shooter was in the back passenger-side seat. The victim said the suspect, dressed in black clothing, shot everyone inside of the car then got out and fled on foot.

Multiple witnesses identified Ortley as having the nicknames Baby J, Little J and Little James. Law enforcement had also interviewed Ortley in a separate murder investigation in 2023; he admitted in that interview his street name was Baby James.

The charges allege that Ortley and his family are associated with the Native Mob, a gang that operates throughout Minnesota. Family members told police that Ortley was a friend of the victims, which investigators confirmed.

Law enforcement later provided a victim at the hospital with a photo array. The victim named Ortley as the shooter. Investigators also found surveillance footage from the area, which captured the shooting and a man matching the description of Ortley climbing out of the car before fleeing the scene.

The news of an additional death brought the total to four. It was the first of three shootings that occurred Wednesday in south Minneapolis that have now resulted in six deaths. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner released the names of the two victims in the separate homicides: Tiago Gilbert, 34; and Derrick Ewing, 54, both of Minneapolis

Ortley was arrested by U.S. Marshals North Star Fugitive Task Force with help from the FBI on Tuesday and booked into the Hennepin County jail Thursday evening in lieu of $2 million bail.

His first court appearance is set for Monday.

Ortley has spent his entire adult life in and out of the criminal justice system, starting with an arrest for underage drinking and driving in 2007, when he was 17. He has felony convictions for first-degree aggravated robbery, fleeing a police officer, illegal possession of a firearm and second-degree assault.

The aggravated robbery conviction is from Ramsey County in 2009 when Ortley shot a 16-year-old girl while stealing her phone. In 2021, Ortley pleaded guilty to second-degree assault after stabbing someone during a bar fight. He was sentenced to 39 months in prison, but the sentence was stayed for five years and he was placed on probation.

That was Ortley’s most recent felony conviction, but his connection to the February crime spree in south Minneapolis will now come under question.

Ortley was one of four people arrested by Minneapolis police and booked into county jail for probable cause of aggravated robbery and assault before being released.

Goodwin, who was killed Tuesday, was charged with aiding-and-abetting second-degree assault and third-degree burglary in juvenile court on Feb. 19. One day later, he was released to the custody of his mother and placed on electronic home monitoring.

The shooting on Tuesday was the most serious incident of fatal gunfire in Minneapolis since four people were killed on May 30, 2024, when Minneapolis police officer Jamal Mitchell, his killer and two other people were shot in a south Minneapolis neighborhood.

According to Minnesota Star Tribune archives, there hasn’t been a shooting claiming more than four lives in Minneapolis since September 2012, when seven people died, including the gunman, who fatally shot himself before authorities could move in.

After a nearly two-week lull, there now have been 17 homicides in the city this year, according to a Star Tribune database. That compares with 20 at this time last year.