ST. PAUL, Minn. (TND) — A suspect released with the help of a nonprofit organization operating a Minnesota bail fund endorsed by Vice President Kamala Harris has now been charged with murder.

Shawn Michael Tillman, a repeat felon, shot and killed a passenger on a light rail platform in St. Paul, Minnesota in May after reportedly being released from jail on April 29 for indecent exposure thanks to the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF).

Vice President Kamala Harris pointed potential donors to the Minnesota Freedom Fund during the violence that ensued after the murder of George Floyd.

The Minnesota Freedom Fund's executive directors, Mirella Ceja-Orozco and Elizer Darris, defended the group's decision to bail out Tillman.

"When determining whether to provide bail support, Minnesota Freedom Fund evaluates several factors including bail amount and a defendant's appearance history, and we prioritize people at risk of losing housing and employment or who are facing challenges like homelessness, mental illness, and chemical dependency. Mr. Tillman's bail was $2,000 – a small amount compared to our average bail request of more than $58,000 and well under our daily bail cap. After paying Mr. Tillman's bail, our Post-Release Team attempted to contact him, as they do all our clients upon release," they said in a statement.

"In all our bail decisions, we strive to balance pre-trial justice with community safety. As a community, we are struggling to navigate and solve violence in our neighborhoods. We all want and deserve to be safe. But it is neither just nor effective to respond to violence by denying bail and pre-emptively punishing people who are disproportionately poor, Black, brown, and Indigenous," the statement continued.

Tillman's criminal record includes multiple counts of indecent exposure in addition to charges of assault and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to The Washington Free Beacon. He is now in custody, and his bail is set at $2 million.

Bail reform has become a hot-button issue going into the November midterm elections.

A district attorney in one California county found that 70% of criminal suspects between 2020 and 2021 released via the state's cashless bail policy ended up reoffending.

Several other states across the country, including New York, have also passed controversial bail reform measures that have evolved into political talking points on both sides of the aisle.

READ MORE: "'Our criminal justice system is insane': NYC mayor, NYPD brass slam bail reform laws"