A man identified by prosecutors as Tsegaab Ademassu Binessu has been charged after three apartment property management workers were shot and killed at a St. Paul leasing office following a dispute over a $65 monthly parking garage contract.
Prosecutors say the shootings happened Monday at the Davern Park Apartments complex after Binessu called the office to ask to cancel the parking contract because he had sold his car.
Staff told him the agreement could not be canceled because it had recently been renewed, according to court documents cited by multiple outlets.
Investigators said Binessu then went to the leasing office in person and opened fire. Authorities said he was charged with three counts of second-degree murder with intent, according to Fox News.
The victims were identified as Nansi G. Fuentes Zambrano, 25, Dena M. Silcox, 56, and Adam J. Wilwerding, 43. Police later found 21 spent 9 mm shell casings in the office, and reports said surveillance video captured the shooting.
Court filings quoted in reports say one victim tried to escape through a window before being shot, while another was hit multiple times in rapid succession. Prosecutors also said Binessu later called a roommate and admitted that he had argued with apartment management and killed three people.
Binessu was arrested later in Virginia, Minnesota, about 200 miles from St. Paul, and remained in custody, according to reports. Police and prosecutors said he also had camping gear, a U.S. passport, a Social Security card, an empty handgun magazine, and a permit to carry a weapon when he was taken into custody, the New York Post reported.
Binessu worked as a truck driver but quit about two months earlier, according to a roommate who spoke with authorities, and he had planned to enlist in the military. Police said he sold his car on the same day as the shooting. Investigators said surveillance video showed Binessu speaking with Silcox and Wilwerding before the shooting.
Court documents say he then lifted his shirt, took a gun from his waistband, pointed it at Wilwerding, and shot him three times after Wilwerding raised his hands. The documents also say Binessu fired three more rounds as Wilwerding fell to the floor.
The filings further say Binessu shot Silcox five times in quick succession and then fired a sixth shot as she tried to move her chair away from the desk. The case is being prosecuted in Minnesota state court, as per the Washington Times.
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