Man shot over drug debt at St. Paul homeless encampment

The July fatal shooting of a man on his birthday at a St. Paul homeless encampment was over a drug debt, according to a criminal complaint.

Francisco Diaz-Xique, 21, of Aitkin, Minn., is jailed and charged in Ramsey County District Court with second-degree murder in connection with the shooting of Steffon T. Jennings, 37, of St. Paul, on the city’s North End.

Diaz-Xique was arrested Tuesday and made a first appearance on the charge Wednesday. He’s being held at the Ramsey County jail in lieu of $2 million bail ahead of his next hearing Oct. 2.

Court records show that Diaz-Xique was convicted of drug possession and negligent storage of a firearm in 2022 and selling narcotics in 2023.

According to the complaint, officers were sent to a reported shooting about 1:15 p.m. July 20 at the homeless encampment in the 1200 block of Jackson Street, north of Maryland Avenue. They were directed to a tent, where they found Jennings on the ground with gunshot wounds to his chest. He was declared dead at the scene, and an autopsy showed he had seven gunshot wounds.

Officers found a piece of paper in Jennings’ jacket with a telephone number written on it. Eight spent 9 mm shell casings were recovered outside the tent, and tests showed they were fired from the same gun.

Witnesses told police that two men and a woman arrived at the encampment shortly before the shooting.

Meanwhile, surveillance video from a nearby business showed Diaz-Xique, a man and a woman get out and walk toward the encampment. About 15 minutes later, Diaz-Xique returned to the car and drove it a short distance before getting out and walking away, the complaint says.

Police towed the car and found inside a wallet with Diaz-Xique’s ID, as well as paperwork for his Walgreen’s prescription. Officers also found 42 rounds of 9 mm ammunition and part of a drug ledger with “14.75g” and “8.7 left” and “$605” written on it.

Later that day, a man walked up to an officer who was at a gas station down the street from the killing. He handed the officer a piece of paper with a telephone number written on it and whispered that it was the number for the suspect who committed the murder. It was the same number on the piece of paper found in Jennings’ jacket and a law enforcement database showed it is tied to Diaz-Xique.

At the encampment, officers spoke to a man who said Jennings owed money to a group of three who had been selling fentanyl there for about a week. He said he saw the three running after the shooting.

A woman told officers she was in the same tent where Jennings was when he was shot. She said a man asked Jennings if he got his message. It wasn’t a long conversation between the two and there wasn’t an argument before Jennings was shot, she said.