BEMIDJI -- The Beltrami County Attorney’s Office charged 18-year-old Antonio Parkhurst with second-degree murder for the death of a 20-year-old , and second-degree assault in an arraignment hearing on Friday, Feb. 21.
Judge John Melby set bail at $100,000 with conditions and $200,000 without conditions at the hearing. Parkhurst, who is listed in the complaint as having a Red Lake Nation address, is next due in court Monday, March 2, before Judge Annie Claesson-Huseby.
The first charge of second-degree murder without intent, while committing a felony, carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and the second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon causing substantial bodily harm charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $20,000 fine or both.
At Friday's arraignment, Beltrami County prosecuting attorney David Frank said the state has sufficient evidence to charge Parkhurst, but the investigation “will go on for several days” and called it a “fluid circumstance.”
Public defender Jennifer Nelson told the court Parkhurst likely will present a self-defense claim.
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According to the criminal complaint:
At about 10:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17, Bemidji Police officers responded to a residence on the 1100 block of Minnesota Avenue to a report of gunshots and found 20-year-old Lupe Rosillo dead on the sidewalk. Authorities identified Rosillo on Friday.
At about the same time, dispatchers received a call from the emergency room at Sanford Bemidji Medical Center reporting that a 17-year-old male was being treated for a gunshot wound. The 17-year-old initially told police that he was robbed at gunpoint by Parkhurst, but later gave a different statement to authorities. He was treated and released from the hospital.
Officers spoke with a witness who said that she was inside the home on Minnesota Avenue with Parkhurst, Rosillo and the 17-year-old. However, she stated she was not present in the room with those three, but that she heard two gunshots. She said she then ran out of the house and found Rosillo in the front yard and called 911.
Both the female witness and the 17-year-old then gave new statements to investigators. The female informed detectives and Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents that she, Rosillo, the 17-year-old and another female were conspiring to lure Parkhurst to the residence to rob him. She said she contacted him and with the other female directed him into a room while Rosillo and the 17-year-old were preparing to ambush Parkhurst. She said the pair rushed toward Parkhurst, while wearing masks, for “the purpose of committing the robbery and/or assault,” according to the criminal complaint.
She said she heard the two gunshots and fled with the other female.
On Wednesday, Feb. 19, Bemidji Police arrested Parkhurst as he was walking in the hallway at a location on Ridgeway Avenue in Bemidji. In his statement to investigators, Parkhurst said he was invited to the Minnesota Avenue residence and that he was in possession of a 9 mm handgun and cash when he arrived. He was then directed into a bedroom where two masked men ran in and began assaulting him. Parkhurst told police he fired two shots in their direction in order to escape the assault, then fled through the alley.
The complaint states that some witnesses have yet to be located.
