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Duluth, Minnesota — A White man was fatally shot just hours after his apartment was reportedly burglarized while he was away. Authorities allege the suspected shooter, a Black career criminal, was known to individuals involved in the earlier break-in.
The Duluth Police Department (DPD) responded to a call of a shooting around 1:30 a.m. on June 15 along East 3rd Street. Upon arrival, officers discovered 37-year-old Cody Telega suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to a local hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
Following an investigation, authorities identified two Black suspects, 35-year-old Antonio Duryea Hendon and 41-year-old Amber Michele Rose Walker. Both were apprehended by police in Cloquet during a felony traffic stop.
Hendon faces charges of second-degree murder and assault with a dangerous weapon. He is currently being held without bail, in addition to an unrelated hold issued by the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC).
Hendon has an extensive criminal history in Minnesota dating back to 2013, including convictions for disorderly conduct, threats, domestic assault, and driving while intoxicated. Most recently, he was convicted in 2023 for assaulting a peace officer. At the time of the alleged homicide, he was under DOC supervision.
Walker has been charged with aiding an offender and is being held on $100,000 bail. In 2024, she faced charges for gross misdemeanor assault resulting in substantial bodily harm. Her supervised release ended earlier this spring.
Both suspects remain in custody at the St. Louis County Jail as the investigation continues.
After issuing several updates to their press release, the DPD informed the public that a reported robbery occurring hours before the death of Telega may have directly contributed to the fatal shooting. As reported by Northern News Now, the location of that robbery was Telega’s own apartment.
Although Telega was not present during the break-in, authorities confirmed that one of his associates was at the residence at the time and sustained injuries during the incident.
By June 20, law enforcement arrested 37-year-old Steven Ross Shotley—who appears to be Black—and 37-year-old Lance Lee Houle—American Indian—in connection with the robbery.
Shotley was charged with aggravated robbery and multiple weapons violations, while Houle faced charges of robbery with a knife.
Both men, according to DPD, were acquainted with Telega as well as the other suspects already in custody. Police emphasized that all five individuals involved were “known to each other” and to the victim.
Shotley has a well-documented history of criminal activity that includes convictions for issuing threats, committing various assaults, and violating weapons laws. He also has a prior charge for throwing bodily fluids at law enforcement. In 2009, Shotley avoided a conviction for attempted murder by accepting a plea deal, ultimately serving six years for a lesser charge of assault.
Houle’s criminal record is similarly extensive, spanning several decades. Among his most serious offenses is a violation of predatory offender registration requirements—despite his name not appearing in publicly accessible sex offender databases. He also has multiple felony convictions involving weapons, narcotics, and violent assaults.
Though no formal obituary for Cody Telega has appeared online, his life was commemorated by at least one Duluth resident on social media. In a Facebook post, the woman described Telega as “one of the good ones,” sharing personal memories and photos of him helping her children fix their bicycle chains—a small act of kindness that stood out in the wake of his tragic death.
Duluth, MN is a small city with a population of approximately 88,000. It is located on the western tip of Lake Superior, where Minnesota borders Wisconsin. According to the DPD’s records from the past five years, there were eight individuals arrested for homicide during that time.
Despite Black residents only making up 2.6% of the city’s population, 75% of those arrested for homicide in Duluth were Black. A trend that the Justice Report has documented across the United States.
Last October, a Black parolee linked to an unsolved homicide was arrested for the shooting death of a White, off-duty corrections officer in Jacksonville, Florida.
Silent security footage from the early hours of October 12 showed an apparent verbal and physical altercation between a Black man and a Black woman at a truck stop.
53-year-old Brad McNew attempted to intervene. Shortly after, he was shot dead after he had already retreated from the situation.
Earlier this month, a Black convicted felon was charged in the murder of a White senior citizen, in a case police said fit a pattern of violent assaults recently reported in the area.
36-year-old Johnny X. Holmes currently awaits trial for 2nd-degree-murder and one count of armed criminal action in connection with the June 12 fatal stabbing of 62-year-old Jerry Lee Terry II.
At the time of the incident, Holmes was also wanted on a bench warrant related to an outstanding 2024 assault case and had been convicted of assault years prior.
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