Convicted SLP Felon Arrested for Possessing Handgun

A St. Louis Park man has been charged with illegally possessing a gun after a 2011 conviction for second-degree assault.

Dashawn Jermaine Jackson, 20, is charged with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, a felony with a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. The charge has a mandatory minimum prison sentence of five years.

According to the criminal complaint, signed by Minneapolis Police Officer Christopher House, police were called to the 2800 block of Cedar Avenue South just after 6:45 p.m. Sept. 2 on a report of an assault.

Officers found a man, later identified as Jackson, and a crying woman yelling at each other. Police watched as Jackson grabbed the woman’s purse and walked away from her, digging through the purse as he left, according to the complaint.

The woman continued to yell at Jackson, and officers intervened and told them to stop fighting. Jackson then threw the purse to the ground and began running; officers repeatedly yelled, “Police, stop!,” but Jackson continued running, glancing behind him as he ran, the complaint charges.

Officers were able to apprehend Jackson just west of Hiawatha Avenue on 28th Street. As they put him in the back of a squad car, they saw the handle of a pistol in his left pants pocket, and retrieved a loaded .38-caliber revolver, according to the complaint.

Jackson was convicted last year of second-degree assault and is prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Jackson, who is also being held on a separate charge of second-degree assault, remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $200,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled for Oct. 4 in Hennepin County District Court.