A St. Paul gunman was sentenced to just over six years in prison this week for shooting and seriously wounding a man near a downtown light rail station in January while wanted on a warrant and on probation.

William Anthony Maki, 20, was wanted for missing two criminal hearings on violent crimes when he shot the 37-year-old man in the abdomen at close range on the corner of Fifth and Cedar streets on the afternoon of Jan. 15. He was also on probation in Hennepin County, court records show.

On the same day, Maki was arrested by police in the apartment across the street. The motive for this remains unclear.

Shortly before 4 p.m., police officers were dispatched to the scene and found the injured man lying on the ground, unconscious and out of breath. He said he did not know the shooter, but that he had taken the light rail. He was taken to Regions Hospital, where he underwent surgery.

Officers found a 9mm cartridge at the crime scene.

The man’s girlfriend said they had just gotten off the light rail and were crossing the street when he was shot. She said the gunman was two meters away when he fired.

She said she knew the shooter as “Will” and that he was dating a woman who lived across the street at the Press House Apartments at 345 Cedar Street, the criminal complaint states.

The shooting was captured on surveillance camera video. Additional footage showed the shooter and two women leaving the home and returning ten minutes later, the complaint said.

Police searched the apartment and arrested the women and the suspected shooter, Maki. He appeared to have shaved his hair after the shooting and admitted this to officers.

Shoes seen in the video, worn by the shooter, were found on the apartment door. A 9mm Walther pistol was found under a chair cushion. The weapon had been reported stolen in Hennepin County. Clothes like those worn by the shooter were found in a washing machine.

In an interview with investigators, Maki denied leaving the apartment with the woman. He was shown a photo of the victim and said he had seen him before.

When an investigator said she knew he was the shooter and wanted to know why he did it, “Maki had no explanation and nodded toward the door to indicate the interrogation was over,” the complaint said.

The shooting victim identified Maki as the shooter from a photo lineup and said, “That’s the (expletive) right there.”

Maki was initially charged with second-degree assault and two counts of possession of a weapon on Jan. 17 after being convicted of a violent crime. An amended plea in April added three more counts: attempted murder, first-degree assault causing great bodily harm and theft.

Missed sentencing hearings

According to court records, Maki pleaded guilty in October in Anoka County to threatening violence for firing an automatic air rifle at an occupied car near his then-home in Columbia Heights on Nov. 29, 2022, breaking a window and showering the occupants with glass fragments. A plea agreement called for probation and two years of probation. He was released on previously posted bail and ordered to return for his Jan. 8 sentencing hearing. He did not.

Just over two weeks later, Maki stood in a Ramsey County courtroom and pleaded guilty to fifth-degree drug possession in August 2023. At his sentencing on January 10, for which he failed to appear, he was to be sentenced to a delay of trial and probation.

According to court records, Maki was convicted of breaking into a home in northeast Minneapolis in January 2023. Nine months later, a judge suspended a 364-day jail sentence for two years and placed him on probation.

In December, Maki was sentenced to 63 days in prison for domestic violence in Anoka County, which he had already served in custody.

Drug charges dropped

Maki’s case for aggravated assault is still ongoing in Anoka County.

In March, Ramsey County prosecutors charged Maki with fifth-degree drug possession (methamphetamine) and carrying a pellet gun in a public place. The charges stem from an incident on a St. Paul light rail train on February 21, 2023.

Eight days after those charges were filed, Maki appeared before a Ramsey County judge for sentencing in August 2023. He was sentenced to 364 days in prison, with credit for 162 days he had already served.

In June, Maki pleaded guilty to first-degree assault for the downtown shooting. A plea agreement included dismissal of the remaining charges in the case and the two charges from March, as well as his acceptance that prosecutors would seek a prison sentence of just over seven years, as the state is seeking.

Judge David Brown on Tuesday denied a request from Maki’s attorney to deviate from state guidelines and imposed a prison sentence of six years and one month, with credit for 212 days Maki had already spent in custody.