Charges have been dropped against a man accused of trying to kill a person at a St. Paul bar after authorities learned that the suspect had died.

Makail Nazeer Saalik, 62, was charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting a man in the chest after the two got into an argument at Willard’s Liquors in Frogtown in the spring of 2016. His case was set to go to trial this week.

However, Saalik died earlier this spring, prompting prosecutors to dismiss the charge, according to a spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney’s office.

The spokesman didn’t know how Saalik died and his attorney did not respond to calls for comment. His relatives could not be reached.

An obituary found online said Saalik died in May but did not list a cause of death.

Saalik got into an argument with a woman at Willard’s in May 2016, hit her in the face and was subsequently kicked out of the bar, court documents say.

He returned later that night and approached a 52-year-old man he mistakenly believed had broken up his earlier altercation with the woman, according to his criminal complaint.

Surveillance video showed Saalik tapping the man on the shoulder before arguing with him and pulling out a handgun, court documents say. The gun fired as the man tried to wrestle it away from Saalik, striking the man in the chest and grazing his head.

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Saalik also reportedly shot himself during the altercation and suffered “significant gunshot injuries” to his thigh and calf, court documents say.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office also charged Saalik’s 50-year-old brother, Ronald Jerome Johnson, with aiding an offender after Johnson helped Saalik hide his gun after the shooting.

Johnson was convicted of aiding and offender in March.