Gabriel Arrazola Perez built a business, supported relatives and became a trusted figure before his death beside St. Paul railroad tracks.
MINNEAPOLIS — Customers knew Gabriel Arrazola Perez as the owner of Barbers on Bryant, while relatives called him their protector and provider. His May killing in St. Paul has left both communities confronting the violent loss of a man they depended upon.
Arrazola Perez, 44, was found dead beside railroad tracks on St. Paul’s east side on May 25, hours after leaving a gathering and arranging to meet someone through WhatsApp. Prosecutors have charged Omar Andres Ramos Castro, 24, with second-degree murder. The case has drawn attention not only because of the evidence described by police but because Ramos Castro told investigators that he stabbed Arrazola Perez after an alleged unwanted sexual advance. A friend rejected that description as inconsistent with Arrazola Perez’s character, and the claim has not been tested in court.
For Arrazola Perez’s family, the criminal complaint describes only the final hours of a life they said was centered on caring for others. In a public statement, the family said he was “our safe place, our protector, our provider, and the person who held all of us together.” The words reflected the roles he carried beyond the barber chair. Friends said he offered practical help, steadiness and protection to relatives as immigration enforcement increased across the Twin Cities. Danielle Robinson Briand, an immigration attorney who knew him, said his death stunned the wider community. “His passing is something that has taken the entire community by surprise,” Briand said. “We want justice for him.”
Briand first met Arrazola Perez while helping him obtain U.S. citizenship in 2022. Their relationship continued after the legal work ended, and she came to see him as someone who took responsibility for those around him. By 2026, he owned Barbers on Bryant in Minneapolis, where the ordinary rhythm of appointments made him part of customers’ lives. Barbershops often function as social spaces as well as businesses, and those who described Arrazola Perez after his death spoke of a familiar presence rather than a distant owner. Public accounts have not detailed how long he operated the shop, how many people worked there or what will happen to the business. The immediate response instead centered on the abrupt absence of a man whose work placed him in regular contact with people throughout the area.
His last known afternoon began at a gathering at a local brewery on May 24. Family members told police they saw him there at about 4 p.m. He left after receiving communications and indicated that he would return. He never did. Investigators later found several calls between Arrazola Perez and a number linked to Ramos Castro. The other phone returned a call at 6:34 p.m. A WhatsApp message from that number included a location pin near railroad tracks off Case Avenue East and Birmingham Street. At about 7:03 p.m., surveillance footage showed Arrazola Perez walking around the tracks with another man, according to the criminal complaint. The recording gave his family’s unanswered evening a fixed place and time, but it did not publicly reveal the full exchange between the men.
By the following morning, the search for Arrazola Perez had become a homicide investigation. A man walking an English bulldog near the 1400 block of Case Avenue said the dog pulled him toward the place where the body lay. He called 911 at about 11 a.m. and told officers it had not been there the day before. Police identified Arrazola Perez through a driver’s license and an eyeglasses prescription found nearby. His Subaru Crosstrek stood about half a mile away. The discovery came on Memorial Day, when many families were gathering for a holiday. For Arrazola Perez’s relatives and friends, the day instead brought the first confirmation that he would not come home.
The medical examiner documented wounds to Arrazola Perez’s back, neck, chest and abdomen. The complaint said he also had several defensive injuries, fractures to three vertebrae and a severe abdominal wound. Police have not released the entire autopsy report, and a charging document presents the prosecution’s account rather than all evidence that could appear at trial. Still, the described injuries showed an attack far more extensive than a single blow. They also raised questions about the claim Ramos Castro later gave detectives. No court has ruled on whether Arrazola Perez initiated physical contact, whether Ramos Castro reasonably believed he faced danger or whether the force used could qualify as lawful self-defense.
Ramos Castro did not begin his police interview by admitting that he was present. According to the complaint, he initially said he had met Arrazola Perez only once, after being offered work removing construction debris. He denied a friendship or relationship with him. Ramos Castro then acknowledged that Arrazola Perez had called him to suggest getting food or smoking marijuana. He first denied seeing Arrazola Perez on May 24 and denied going to the tracks. After detectives confronted him with evidence, he said he had been there for about 10 minutes but left Arrazola Perez with other people. Only later did he admit stabbing him with a pocketknife, police said.
Ramos Castro told investigators that Arrazola Perez made unwanted sexual advances and reached toward his crotch despite his protests. He said the actions left him filled with rage and made him feel he had to defend himself. He could not remember how many times he stabbed Arrazola Perez because of his anger, according to the complaint. A close friend told CBS Minnesota that the allegation made no sense to her and was completely out of character for Arrazola Perez. Her statement does not settle what occurred, but it placed the defense account in direct conflict with how those closest to him understood his conduct. That conflict may shape pretrial arguments and testimony if the case reaches a jury.
Jennifer Pradt, a criminal defense attorney with no role in the case, said the allegation could invite jurors to view the victim through bias about sexual orientation. She predicted disputes over how the defense may characterize the encounter and what evidence can be introduced. Minnesota law allows a person to use reasonable force under certain circumstances, but an assertion of self-defense does not automatically excuse a killing. Courts examine who initiated the conflict, whether the person claiming self-defense reasonably feared harm, whether retreat was required and whether the force matched the threat. The exact instructions in this case would depend on evidence and rulings that have not yet occurred.
The police case against Ramos Castro relies on several forms of evidence rather than his statements alone. Phone records showed repeated contact. Location information placed the number linked to him near the tracks around the period of the killing. Surveillance cameras recorded two men entering the area and later showed a body where none had been visible earlier. Another camera at a nearby Speedway captured a person wearing clothing similar to that of Arrazola Perez’s companion. Police found Arrazola Perez’s phone with the help of a dog and said fingerprints on it did not match him. Data from the device preserved the WhatsApp location that had directed him close to the place where he died.
Officers followed the video trail to Ramos Castro’s apartment and arrested him June 4. Prosecutors filed the murder charge the next day. A judge set bond at $2.5 million, and Ramos Castro was held in the Ramsey County Jail. A conviction for second-degree murder could bring up to 40 years in prison, although sentencing would depend on Minnesota law, criminal history and judicial findings. Ramos Castro is presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. His attorney may challenge the admissibility of statements, the interpretation of location data, the identification from surveillance footage and the state’s account of the physical confrontation.
The case later gained another legal layer when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it had issued a detainer for Ramos Castro. ICE said he entered the United States illegally from El Salvador in 2023 and lacked lawful status. The federal request could affect what happens if he becomes eligible for release from local custody, but it does not control the murder prosecution. Arrazola Perez, by contrast, had completed his citizenship process four years before his death. Briand said he later helped protect his own family as federal immigration activity increased, linking his personal history to the support role relatives described after he was killed.
What remains is a court case and an emptiness that court filings cannot measure. The complaint records calls, timestamps, wounds and changing statements. Arrazola Perez’s family remembers the person who brought relatives together, while customers remember the barber who occupied a familiar place in their routines. The prosecution’s next stages will determine which evidence a jury may consider and whether Ramos Castro’s account survives legal and factual scrutiny. Those proceedings cannot restore the daily work, conversations and support that disappeared with Arrazola Perez.
Ramos Castro remains charged and jailed while the case moved through Ramsey County court. Arrazola Perez’s relatives and friends continued to seek accountability for the death of the man they described as the center of their family.
Author note: Last updated July 10, 2026.