Teenager charged with shooting woman through windshield enters guilty plea
(ABC 6 News) – A Rochester teenager accused of shooting a woman in the face at The Quarters last year pleaded guilty to a lesser offense in exchange for 5 years’ incarceration.
Aaron Armond Caradine, 19, has been held at the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center since November of 2023, when he allegedly shot a 20-year-old woman in the face through a windshield in the parking lot of the apartment building.
Caradine was originally charged with1st-degree assault–great bodily harm; drive-by shooting toward an occupied building or motor vehicle; and 2nd-degree assault–substantial bodily harm.
Caradine pleaded guilty to a charge of felon in possession of a firearm Thursday, Oct. 17, and was immediately sentenced to 60 months at the MN Correctional Facility in St. Cloud.
He received 350 days’ credit for time spent in Olmsted County’s jail.
Court documents filed over the summer indicate that Caradine’s case was complicated by several factors.
He was not Mirandized before making a statement to law enforcement while in custody, several documents claim.
However, Caradine’s public defender did not file a motion to dismiss the case, based on the violation of his constitutional rights, until 5 months after the deadline to do so had elapsed, according to another court document.
The interview was later removed from trial evidence.
Twenty-two-year-old Daniel King Jr., accused of returning gunfire at Caradine from the woman’s car, is scheduled to appear in Olmsted County Oct. 31, with a pretrial hearing scheduled for Nov. 12.
He faces one charge of drive-by shooting toward an occupied motor vehicle or building, but is not accused of injuring anyone.