Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom announced that Nathan Wesley McDonald, age 22 of Oakdale, and Terrell Theo Payne, age 19 of Little Canada, have both been charged with one count each of Murder in the Second Degree in connection with the July 9, 2019 fatal shooting of 21-year-old Lawrence Terrance Renfro at an apartment where he was then residing in West St. Paul. According to the criminal complaint, on July 9, at around 11AM, a friend of Renfro went to the apartment where Renfro was residing when he couldn’t reach him by telephone. The friend found the door to Renfro’s ground floor apartment locked and when no one answered his knock, he walked to the bedroom window where he found the screen damaged. He entered through the window and found the deceased Renfro on a couch in the living room with Renfro’s 2-year-old child sitting next to him. The friend took the child, exited the apartment and called police. The investigation revealed that Renfro and McDonald were acquainted with one another as Renfro was involved with McDonald’s sister. After allegations of domestic abuse, McDonald and Payne allegedly confronted Renfro, and shot him in his apartment. Backstrom thanked the West St. Paul Police Department for their thorough investigation of this case. Backstrom also thanked the Oakdale Police Department, the Washington County SWAT Team, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for their assistance in the arrest of these two men.
