Suspect in Jobi Shooting, Schunk Disappearance Had History of Violent Crime

The man implicated in a fatal shooting at Nina's Grill and the subsequent disappearance of a college student is no stranger to the law.

Shavelle Chavez-Nelson, also known as Anthony Lee Nelson, was charged with second-degree murder after witnesses identified him as the gunman who allegedly shot 23-year-old Palagor "Paul" Jobi eight times on Sept. 22. Jobi bled to death in the parking lot outside of Nina's Grill. Chavez-Nelson's ex-girlfriend Anarae Schunk, 20, went missing soon after. Authorities believe she is dead, though they have not yet found her body.

According to a report by the Pioneer Press, the 31-year-old's criminal record shows a pattern of increasingly violent offenses since 1999. One judge described him as an intelligent but "frightening and disturbing young man," the newspaper reports.

1999 

Chavez-Nelson was convicted of felony drug sales. He was sentenced to a year in prison, but the court stayed the execution of the sentence if he successfully completed probation and treatment. The Pioneer Press reports that he broke the terms of his probation, and the stay was revoked. He served six months in the prison at St. Cloud.

June 2000

He got out of prison in May of 2000. A month after his release he drove the getaway car during a purse snatching incident at the Knollwood Mall in St. Louis Park. He pleaded guilty. The presumptive sentence was a year and a half in prison, but the court opted to stay the sentence and instead imposed jail time in the Hennepin County Workhouse, drug treatment and probation.

October 2001

Chavez-Nelson was accused of holding up a man at gunpoint outside a Minneapolis apartment. He demanded the man's car keys and threatened to kill him if he called police. Chavez-Nelson pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery. He was sentenced to seven years and four month in prison, but once again, the judge stayed the sentence. In lieu of prison, Chavez-Nelson spent time at the workhouse, where he was noted for "exemplary" conduct, and went to anger management classes.

2003 

Chavez-Nelson was charged with an apartment robbery in Brooklyn Park. The Pioneer Press reports that he threatened a room full of people—including children—with a pistol altered to resemble a machine gun. He told one woman he would "blow her brains out if she didn't shut up." He was convicted and served just under eight years in prison. 

He met Schunk in 2012, shortly after he was released.

June 2013

Chavez-Nelson allegedly used a gun to force his way into a Richfield apartment. The case is still pending. He posted bail and was released a week before the shooting in Burnsville.

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