Suspect Formally Charged in Hwy 169 Fatal Shooting, Others Being Investigated
Plymouth police continue to investigate additional suspects in a shooting that killed youth baseball coach Jay Boughton on Highway 169 two months ago. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged, Jamal Smith, 33, of Chicago, with second-degree murder and aiding an offender as an accomplice after the fact.
The charges were unsealed Friday night. Plymouth police announced Smith’s arrest last week.
According to the criminal complaint, a Facebook Live video allegedly made with Smith was posted hours before the shooting on July 6. The complaint says investigators matched the weapon Smith was seen waving in the video with the one used to kill Boughton, 56, of Crystal.
The complaint also says a rental car company reported stolen the SUV authorities sought in the shooting. That SUV, described as a late-model silver Chevy Suburban, was seen in surveillance video leaving a vet clinic in Arden Hills just minutes before it was shown entering I-694. The vehicle eventually encountered Boughton’s vehicle for about a half mile on southbound 169 in Plymouth.
The charges also reveal that the suspect’s vehicle pulled up next to Boughton’s vehicle when Boughton “gestured” at the other driver. Within 10 seconds, the driver’s side window had shattered. The victim’s vehicle went through a fence and crashed into into parked cars at an apartment complex. Boughton’s 15-year-old son was in the front passenger seat and tried performing CPR.
Boughton’s brother-in-law, Stephen Robinson, told WCCO Radio that the Suburban’s driver wanted to move into the right lane, but Boughton gave a shrug before being shot. Plymouth Public Safety Director Erik Fadden previously stated that something as simple as a lane change may have set off the shooter. MnDOT surveillance video showed the suspect vehicle driving “erratically” and at fast speeds before approaching Boughton’s vehicle.
The stolen SUV was located July 23 when a towing company told police it had the vehicle in its impound lot.
Smith remained in custody in a Decatur, Ill., jail as of Tuesday afternoon. He awaits extradition to Hennepin County. Two others identified in the Facebook Live video are also being investigated for their role in the shooting, the complaint said.
Jay Boughton was a coach for the Armstrong Cooper Youth Baseball Association.
