A probable cause affidavit filed with the court in the case against Sheridan Charlene Simms reveals more information about the investigation into the Jan. 12 shooting death in Minot of Dominick Stephens, 29, and the attempted murder of his passenger, Patrick Bost, 28.

Simms, 30, was apprehended in Las Vegas last month and was transported to Minot to face charges of Class C felony hindering law enforcement and Class C felony child neglect. She is accused of abandoning her four children, who are between the ages of 3 and 13, and of helping murder suspect Donald Cooper Jr. flee the state after the death of Stephens. Simms made an initial appearance on the charges on Thursday before Judge Gary Lee. A preliminary hearing in her case is scheduled for April 9.

Cooper, 27, is still at large and is wanted on charges of Class AA felony accomplice to murder, Class A felony attempted murder, Class C felony reckless endangerment, and Class C felony terrorizing. The other two co-defendants, Marcus Jermaine Lee, 22, and Michael Lamart Dennis II, 24, are in custody. Lee has pleaded guilty to Class A felony accomplice to murder; Dennis is charged with Class AA felony accomplice to murder, Class A felony attempted murder, Class C felony reckless endangerment, and Class C felony terrorizing.

According to the affidavit in Simms’ case, officers responded to the 1100 block of 11th Avenue NW, which is just outside the Minot State University Dome, after receiving a report of gunshots at 6:07 a.m. on Jan. 12. Stephens, the driver of the white Chevrolet Impala, had crashed the vehicle into the boulder and was slumped over the wheel and was unresponsive. A man was screaming at the scene.

Stephens was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. An autopsy later revealed that Stephens had been shot twice in the back. It was determined that the shots were fired from a distance.

Patrick Bost, who had been a passenger in Stephens’ vehicle, was bleeding from the nose and mouth and appeared to have been involved in a fight earlier that morning. A patrol officer told the investigator that there had been a fight earlier at the Expressway Suites in Minot. Bost would not name the hotel where the fight took place and said he is not from this area and did not know the names of the people who were present at the fight. Bost told police that the fight was over a woman. Bost claimed that he had been asleep at the time the car was shot at and that he woke up to loud bangs and the vehicle driving into a statue at MSU.

Police obtained a warrant for Stephens’ room at Expressway Suites and seized blood swabs and a bloody towel from the room as evidence.

A witness told police that a man and two women, none of whom have been charged, arrived at the hotel and were in Stephens’ room for about 15 to 20 minutes. Dennis, Cooper, and a third man who has not been charged in connection with the crime, showed up a bit later and went to Stephens’ room. Cooper and Dennis were said to be the two men who later shot at the car that Stephens was driving and Lee was the driver of the vehicle, which was reported to be a silver Ford Escape.

The witness told police that Cooper and Bost had gotten into a fight at the hotel. Cooper and Bost had been arguing verbally throughout the night, both at the Ice Cold Ryders Clubhouse in downtown Minot and at a local gas station. They then got into a fight in the hallway outside Stephens’ hotel room. The witness had heard that Cooper knocked Bost to the floor. Cooper allegedly asked Dennis for a gun and told Bost, “I’ll (expletive) kill you.” At first Dennis refused to give Cooper his gun and Bost then got up and attacked Dennis. Dennis then pulled his gun on Bost and told him, “I spared you, now I’ll (expletive) kill you.” At that point, the witness went upstairs and tried to calm people down and keep fights from breaking out and told them that the police were coming. The parties scattered and left the hotel. The witness told police that Cooper’s face was bloody when he left the hotel and so was Bost’s.

The witness believed Stephens left the hotel with Bost because the hotel room at the Expressway Suites was registered in Stephens’ name and Stephens didn’t know what was going to happen.

The registered owner of the car Lee was driving had let Lee borrow the car that night. Later in the morning of Jan. 12, the owner of the vehicle noticed there were bullet holes in the vehicle. The car’s owner said she also found shell casings in the trunk and gave one to Lee, who told her to “be safe, but did not go into details.”

On Jan. 13, police obtained a search warrant for the suspect vehicle and the residence. Also found during the search was a loaded 9 mm Ruger and an empty 40-caliber Smith and Wesson box without the pistol. The car’s owner saw a SnapChat posted by one of the parties who had been at the hotel during the altercation, but who has not been charged with a crime. The photo the woman saw on SnapChat was taken at about 3 a.m. on Jan. 12, inside her vehicle, with Cooper in the back seat.

Video from a gas station taken at about 4:10 a.m. on Jan. 12 also shows a confrontation between Cooper and Stephens, according to the affidavit. Also present at the gas station were Lee, Dennis, Bost, and another man who has not been charged.

According to the affidavit, video was provided to police that showed Stephens’ white Chevrolet Impala being chased through the Terrace Drive neighborhood between 13th Street NW and 11th Avenue NW by the 2013 Ford Escape driven by Lee. The owner of the 2013 Ford Escape told police that Lee brought the vehicle back while she was still asleep. Lee later called the woman and told her Stephens had been shot. She took the vehicle to Walmart and returned and confronted Lee about the bullet holes in her vehicle. Lee would not answer her questions.

Lee was taken into custody on the day after the shooting. He spoke to the authorities at the jail and told them he did not want to do life in prison and wanted a deal.

Lee told police that he, Cooper, Dennis and another man who has not been charged all left the gas station after the altercation there and they dropped off the other man at his home. They then picked up yet another man, who also has not been charged, at his residence and went to the hotel. Lee stayed in the car and slept while Dennis, Cooper and that other man went into the hotel. Cooper, Dennis, and the third man came out of the hotel, talking about the fight. They then dropped the third man off at his home. While they were dropping him off, either Cooper or Dennis noticed Stephens’ car. Dennis and Cooper yelled at him to speed up and catch up to Stephens’ vehicle. Dennis was in the front passenger seat and Cooper was in the rear passenger seat. Lee believed that Stephens knew he was being followed because Stephens sped up his vehicle. Lee increased his speed when Dennis and Cooper began yelling at him. Lee told police that Cooper and Dennis both began shooting at Stephens’ vehicle. Lee, Cooper, and Dennis could not see who was inside Stephens’ vehicle or who was driving when they started shooting. Lee told police that he believed Cooper had a .40-caliber handgun. Dennis reached over to the center console where Lee kept his 9 mm and Dennis began shooting that at Stephens’ vehicle. There was also a rifle in the back seat where Cooper was sitting. Once Dennis and Cooper started shooting, Lee hit the brakes and Cooper and Dennis started yelling at him to catch up with Stephens’ vehicle. Lee told police he did not believe he had a choice because he was afraid of what Cooper and Dennis would do to him.

Stephens’ vehicle went toward the university and Lee turned left onto 8th Street NW. Cooper and Dennis yelled at Lee that he did not know how to drive.

After the shooting, Lee drove to the Robindale Trailer Court. Cooper and Dennis got out at the home of Dennis’s girlfriend. They took the guns out of the vehicle except for Lee’s 9 mm.

On Feb. 5, another witness spoke with police and indicated that she and her friend, Simms, had been in Fargo for a rap concert before Jan. 11 and 12. Simms and her friend returned home on Jan. 11. On Jan. 12, Simms woke up her friend and yelled that Stephens had gotten shot. Simms had heard the information from her nephew, who was not involved in the shooting. Cooper, who is reportedly involved in a sexual relationship with Simms and sometimes gives her money to help with her children, kept calling Simms throughout the day of Jan. 12. Cooper allegedly told Simms that he had done something dumb and needed her help. Simms’ friend told police that Simms left Minot on the night of Jan. 13 with Cooper and that they drove to Milwaukee. Cooper has family in Wisconsin.

Simms asked her friend to watch her four children and said she would be back in a few days. The friend did not know at the time that Simms was going to drive Cooper out of state. The friend later “put two and two together.” Simms picked up her children on Jan. 17 from the friend’s apartment and drove with them to Las Vegas. Simms called the friend on the road and told her she had flipped her vehicle with the children inside along the way. No one was hurt in the accident, Simms told the friend.