Minnesota Teen Arrested For Fatally Shooting Man After ‘Distinctive Wallet’ Ties Him To Murder, Cops Say

A wallet and bus pass helped police identify a Minnesota teenager accused of murdering a man at a bus stop after the pair exchanged words, authorities said.

Jose Cippirno Dominguez, 18, faces a second-degree intentional murder charge in connection with the shooting death in Minneapolis, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced Jan. 25.

According to a criminal complaint, on Dec. 21, police officers responding to the report of a shooting found the male victim dead at a bus shelter from a single gunshot wound to the head.

Officers canvassed the neighborhood for video, and authorities claim footage retrieved from nearby businesses and residences captured most of the events leading up to the shooting.

The complaint states Dominguez got off a bus at the stop and walked to a nearby business vestibule but a short time later he returned to the stop and he and the victim exchanged words.

“After just a few seconds together in the bus shelter, [Dominguez] pulled out a firearm, racked the slide, and shot [the victim] in the head,” the complaint states. “Dominguez then fled the bus shelter while passersby called 911.”

Officers used a canine to follow the suspect’s flight path, which the complaint states was in the direction of the defendant’s nearby home.

According to the complaint, bus video and bus records allegedly show Dominguez “paid for his bus ride immediately preceding the murder with a bus pass issued in his name.”

In a police interview, Dominguez provided detectives with his bus pass, which he removed from a “distinctive wallet,” the complaint states.

Investigators combing through weeks of surveillance video recorded before and after the murder allegedly spotted in footage Dominguez “pulling his bus card from the same distinctive wallet that he had when investigators spoke with him,” the complaint states.

A search warrant executed at the suspect’s house turned up the same distinctive wallet, police said.

“This case is the result of excellent police work that would not have been possible without a quick response and persistence by the officers and investigators involved,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. “We are now able to seek accountability for the person responsible and justice for the victim’s family.”