Rochester Man Sentenced For Shooting Woman in the Eye

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Rochester teenager has been sent to prison for his participation in a gun battle outside an apartment complex last year that left a woman without vision in one of her eyes.

Court records say the shooting followed an altercation during a Halloween party that took place at the Quarters Apartments near the Rochester Community and Technical College campus on the night of October 27, 2023. Rochester police responded to the property and were told that a significant number of people exited the gathering and left the area in their vehicles after an unknown individual fired a gun.

The criminal complaint filed against 19-year-old Aaron Armand Caradine alleged that he was a passenger in a car and fired a handgun at another vehicle at an intersection near the apartment complex. The court document says a woman riding in the targeted vehicle was struck in the eye by a bullet. While her injury was not life-threatening, the criminal complaint says she no longer has vision in the injured eye.

The charges also describe surveillance video from the apartment complex that shows a muzzle flash coming from the vehicle transporting Caradine. The video also shows that the man driving the vehicle carrying the wounded woman responded by extending his arm and firing a gun approximately eight times in the direction of the other vehicle.

Investigators later found four .45 caliber spent shell casings on the ground at the crime scene. The also located one unfired 9 mm round and a spent shell casing near the apartment unit where the party had been taking place.

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Caradine was charged with first and second-degree assault, along with a drive-by shooting charge. Under the terms of a plea agreement, those charges were dismissed and he entered a guilty plea to a charge of illegal possession of a firearm.

During a court hearing on Thursday, Caradine was sentenced to five years in prison, although he was given credit for the 350 days he has been in jail since his arrest.

The Rochester man who was driving the car with the wounded woman was also arrested and charged in the case. 22-year-old Daniel Ray Young Junior faces a drive-by shooting charge. He remains in custody with his bail set at $300,000. His next court hearing is scheduled on October 31.

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