Man connected to murder pictured shoveling snow

Thirty-five months before Johven J. Lee allegedly partcipated in a felony that led to the shooting death of Kevin Bell, he was outside, doing what just about everyone does in February in Iowa: Shoveling snow.

Former Gazette photographer Leila Navidi snapped this image of Lee on Feb. 13, 2007. "It's kinda fun," Lee said of the shoveling. "It gives me something to do."

On Jan. 11, Lee was with two teenagers, Denem A. Null, then 16, and Gabriel D. Taylor, 17. They are accused of barging into an apartment at 113 First Ave. SW in Cedar Rapids to commit a robbery. Bell was inside. Null is accused firing the gun that killed him.

Lee was arrested in Naperville, Ill. on Feb. 17. He was extradited back to Cedar Rapids last week, on his 20th birthday. He, Null and Taylor all face first-degree murder charges. Read more on the case here.

I have never met Lee or any of the other suspects, and we haven't learned much about any of them. But you wonder how telling this quote is: "It gives me something to do."