Fridley man gunned down in Mounds View was serving probation for two assault convictions

Aug. 20—The man fatally shot Wednesday afternoon in Mounds View had a criminal past that included firing several shots at someone outside a gas station in the city last year.

Jalyn Tremaine Bass, who was 19 at the time, was charged with one felony count each of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon following the April 2020 shooting at a Speedway gas station at County Road I and Mounds View Boulevard.

On Friday, Mounds View Police Chief Nate Harder identified Bass as the man killed in Wednesday's shooting. Bass, of Fridley, died 10 days before his 21st birthday.

At the time of his death, Bass was serving concurrent probation terms related to the Speedway shooting and for a previous assault for spitting on a Mounds View police officer's face in October 2019. However, the assault on the officer conviction didn't come until after the shooting.

CHARGES: ADMITTED USING THE GUN

According to court documents, police recovered a dozen .40-caliber bullet casings at the Speedway and noted bullet holes where the victim said he had taken cover. No one was hurt.

Police arrested Bass at his Fridley home, where he was in possession of a backpack that had a stolen .40-caliber handgun with an extended 20-round magazine and an extra 12-round magazine. He admitted to using the gun to fire the shots, charges state.

Bass in an interview with police admitted to the shooting and told them it was in self-defense against people with whom he had "bad blood."

In a plea agreement with Ramsey County prosecutors on Oct. 19, 2020, Bass was convicted of the assault charge and the attempted murder charge was dismissed. Judge Timothy Mulrooney stayed a 57-day jail sentence for Bass and put him on five years of probation. He had faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the attempted murder charge.

UNRESPONSIVE WHEN FOUND

On Wednesday, shortly before 4:30 p.m., Mounds View police officers were called to the 2500 block of County Road I, where multiple shots had been fired and someone was possibly injured.

Officers were soon notified by dispatchers that a vehicle had fled the scene with the injured person inside. The vehicle was then reported to be at Mounds View Boulevard and Pleasant View Drive, a little more than a mile from the shooting scene.

Officers then went to the second location and found Bass on the ground near the vehicle, according to police. He was unresponsive and had suffered a gunshot wound. Despite lifesaving efforts, Bass died at the scene.

Harder said Friday that investigators, including those from the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, were pursuing multiple leads, but that no one had been identified as a suspect and that "we have very limited cooperation from everyone involved at this point."

"We are looking for information from the public," Harder added. Anyone with information is asked to contact Mounds View police at 763-717-4071 or Minnesota Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.

PREVIOUS TROUBLE

In January 2020, Bass pleaded guilty to felony fourth-degree assault after charging documents say he spit on a Mounds View police officer following an Oct. 22 traffic stop for speeding along County Road H near Long Lake Road.

Bass was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant, according to the criminal complaint, which does not state what the warrant involved. Outside a squad car, Bass physically resisted, repeatedly yelled and cursed at officers and threatened to "pop a cap in a couple of y'all," the complaint read. Once inside the car, he "violently kicked at the door, causing the car to rock from side to side," the complaint alleged, and then took a deep breath and spat at the officer through the partition. The saliva landed "all over his face and directly in his right eye," charges read.

A short time later, Bass said that he was sorry and had acted out of anger, according to the complaint.

In a court hearing on the criminal charge two days later, Ramsey County Judge Paul Yang released Bass with no bail amount or conditions. Bass was scheduled to be sentenced on March 19, but the hearing was canceled because of the pandemic, according to court records.

Ten days after he was given probation for the gas station shooting, Judge Reynaldo Aligada Jr. stayed a 65-day jail sentence for Bass and gave him three years of concurrent probation.