Left: Terrell Ranzy (Dakota County Jail). Right: Matthew Lee (GoFundMe).
A 20-year-old man is behind bars in the death of a Minnesota college football player who was killed in a shootout between men in a small bedroom.
Terrell Anthony Ranzy stands accused of second-degree murder, manslaughter and possession of a firearm by an ineligible person in the death of 20-year-old Matthew Robert Lee, a football player at St. Olaf College in Northfield, some 40 miles south of Minneapolis. According to a criminal complaint, South St. Paul police officers responded around 3:42 a.m. Friday to a home with an unresponsive man.
When officers arrived, people pointed officers to an upstairs bedroom in the home. Cops had a difficult time opening the door because Lee”s body was blocking it. Once inside, they found Lee suffering from two gunshot wounds and another 20-year-old man named Keith Woodson Cox with gunshot wounds to his arms and torso. Officers pronounced Lee dead at the scene while paramedics rushed Cox to the hospital.
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Investigators spoke with several witnesses who were in the home at the time of the shooting. They said Cox, Ranzy, the victim and three other men were hanging out that night and eventually made their way to the home where the shooting occurred around 3 a.m. All six men gathered in a small bedroom when Cox and Ranzy pulled out guns and started comparing them, the complaint said.
Cox told Ranzy he should always “keep one up top,” meaning to have a round in the chamber. Witnesses said Cox, Lee and another man went into the adjacent bathroom together. Cox, who has not been charged with a crime, allegedly told Lee and the other man he wanted to rob Ranzy of his gun. Lee and the other man tried to talk Cox out of it. But Cox walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom, pointed a gun at Ranzy and said “I ain’t going to lie, I need you to give me all that s—,” according to the affidavit.
Ranzy fell onto the bed, fired a shot into the ceiling and then fired more shots at Cox from a crouching position, hitting both Cox and Lee, cops say. Cox returned fire but apparently didn’t hit anyone.
“Two people in the room jumped out the window to avoid the gunfire,” cops wrote. “Witness described the victim as an innocent bystander.”
Detectives recovered 14 shell casings from two different guns, the affidavit said. Ranzy, who was convicted earlier this year for making threats of violence and prohibited from having a firearm, left the home but was later arrested.
Now Lee’s teammates are continuing their season without the third-year linebacker.
“Matthew was just a great kid. A tragic loss because of the future that he had in front of him and the opportunities that were going to be presented to him,” St. Olaf coach James Killian told local ABC affiliate KSTP.
Killian also said Lee had a “great, caring personality.”
“Connected well and obviously that’s one of the big reasons why his loss has been felt so deeply,” Killian said.
Ranzy is at the Dakota County Jail on a $750,000 bond. He is next slated to appear in court on Sept. 25.
