Crime & Safety

Man Sentenced To 36 Years In 2020 Fatal Eagan Shooting

Robert Lee Baker, 30, of St. Paul, was convicted of second degree murder by a jury in April.

Robert Lee Baker will concurrently serve a five-year sentence for illegally owning a firearm, officials said.
Robert Lee Baker will concurrently serve a five-year sentence for illegally owning a firearm, officials said. (Dakota County Jail Inmate Search)

EAGAN, MN — A man was sentenced Friday to 36.5 years in prison in the 2020 fatal Eagan shooting of Maurice Antonio Anderson of Minneapolis, according to a news release from the Dakota County Attorney's Office.

Robert Lee Baker, 30, of St. Paul, was convicted of second degree murder by a jury in April, court officials said.

Baker will concurrently serve a five year sentence for illegally owning a firearm, officials said.

Find out what's happening in Eaganfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Eagan officers responded to a report of shots fired at a hotel in Eagan at 9 p.m. Nov. 9, 2020, prosecutors said.

First responders tried to revive Anderson, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to court officials. He had 11 gunshot wounds, according to the Medical Examiner.

Find out what's happening in Eaganfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Jury Convicts Man Charged In 2020 Fatal Eagan Shooting

Officers then found a car matching the description provided in the 911 call, according to police. They stopped the car, and the front seat passenger was identified as Baker, authorities said.

The driver of the car told police that she and Baker had gone to an Eagan hotel to meet up with her friend, officials said. After the friend got into the car, she told officers that two men with handguns got into the backseat and told them to drive, according to police. The woman said she pulled over in another hotel parking lot, and then the men robbed her and Baker, officials said.

According to authorities, the woman said that Baker got out of the car and she heard shooting. When the shooting had stopped, Baker got back into the car and the two dropped her friend off at the hotel before getting stopped by officers, the woman told police.

Baker said that after he and the woman were robbed, the two men ran away and he got out of the car and chased them with a gun, yelling at them to give him his stuff back, according to police.

Baker told police that both men who had robbed him pointed guns at him, and he fired his gun, hitting one of them, authorities said.

Officers didn't find a firearm near the Anderson, however, they found 16 discharged cartridge casings consistent with the .40 caliber handgun Baker admitted he used to shoot him with, according to officials.

Officers got a search warrant for the car and found a .40 caliber handgun, and a BB gun, which Baker said Anderson used to rob them, police said.

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