Man in prison for one murder now charged with second killing in Minneapolis from 2017

A man serving a long prison term for one murder in Minneapolis is now charged with a second killing in the city more than seven years ago.

Marvel Galvaston Williams, 36, of St. Paul has been indicted by a grand jury in Hennepin County on a charge of first-degree premeditated murder in connection with the shooting of Aaron Williams on May 30, 2017, in north Minneapolis.

The indictment offered no details about the killing or how law enforcement first suspected Marvel Williams as the killer. However, witness accounts and court filings from around the time of the killing said that Aaron Williams, 22, briefly interacted with the suspect moments before he was shot at the corner of N. 30th and Irving avenues. Aaron Williams was taken by emergency responders to North Memorial Health Hospital, where he died.

Witnesses told police that a man had hopped out of a vehicle and got into the passenger seat of the van that Aaron Williams was in. Moments later, a gunshot rang out. The suspect was seen running back to his vehicle and tossing his gun inside.

Law enforcement has yet to say whether the two men were related.

Marvel Williams is due in court on Aug. 7. In the meantime, he's been in prison since being sentenced in March 2023 to a 24-year term for his role in a rolling gun battle on a downtown Minneapolis street in October 2021 that resulted in one of the two vehicles hitting and killing a teenager standing at the corner with her scooter.

The late-night feud in the North Loop killed Autumn Rose Merrick, 18, of Minneapolis, who was riding a scooter after she left work.