An 18-year-old St. Paul man was shot in the neck Friday night near Myth Nightclub in Maplewood and is critical condition, according to police.

Officers were called to the club at 3090 Southlawn Drive at about 11 p.m. The shooting occurred outside the club in the adjacent Ashley Furniture parking lot which Myth uses for overflow parking during events and concerts.

The man was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul.

No one has been arrested and it is not clear if the victim was the intended target, police said.

“As yet, we do not know a motive, a suspect has not been identified, there is no known video of the incident itself,” said Cmdr. Dave Kvam with the Maplewood police.

Anyone with information is asked to call Maplewood police through the Ramsey County Emergency Communications Center at 651-767-0640.

Minneapolis police are investigating a shooting in downtown Sunday that left one man dead and another critically injured, according to police spokesman John Elder.

Officers responding to an early afternoon call arrived at the intersection of Seventh Street North and Lyndale Avenue North and found a vehicle containing two men who were shot, one of whom was deceased. The injured man was taken to an area hospital, Elder said.

“Preliminary information shows that there were two vehicles involved in the shooting and the second vehicle was gone when officers arrived,” Elder said.

No further information was available Sunday afternoon.

Police ask anyone with information about the shooting to call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477, or the MPD tip line at 612-692-8477.

By JEFFREY COLLINS

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The man accused of killing a woman who got into his car thinking it was her Uber ride had activated the child locks in his backseat so the doors could only be opened from the outside, police in South Carolina say.

Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook also said investigators found the victim’s blood in Nathaniel David Rowland’s vehicle. Rowland, 24, was arrested and charged in the death of 21-year-old Samantha Josephson, a University of South Carolina student from Robbinsville, New Jersey.

Investigators would not say what they think Rowland did to Josephson from the time she got into his black Chevrolet Impala in Columbia’s Five Points entertainment district around 1:30 a.m. Friday until her body was dumped in woods off a dirt road in Clarendon County about 65 miles (105 kilometers) away.

Josephson had numerous wounds to her head, neck, face, upper body, leg and foot, according to arrest warrants released Sunday by the State Law Enforcement Division. The documents didn’t say what was used to attack her.

Josephson’s blood was found in the trunk and inside Rowland’s car along with her cellphone, bleach, window cleaner and cleaning wipes, Holbrook said.

“This was a bad scene,” the police chief said at a news conference late Saturday.

Hunters found Josephson’s body Friday afternoon just hours after it was dumped, despite being left in an area that was “very difficult to get to unless you knew how to get there,” Holbrook said.

Rowland has recently lived in the area, he said.

The night after Josephson was kidnapped, a Columbia police officer noticed a black Chevrolet Impala about two blocks from the Five Points bars where Josephson was kidnapped. The driver ran, but was arrested after a short chase, Holbrook said.

Rowland is charged with kidnapping and murder, Holbrook said. He was being held in the Richland County jail. It wasn’t known if he had a lawyer.

Rowland decided not to appear at a hearing in jail Sunday. The judge allowed Josephson’s mother to speak, The State newspaper reported.

Marci Josephson said her daughter was planning to go to law school after graduating in May and described her as “bubbly, loving, kind and full of life.”

“Unlike him, Samantha had love within her heart and purpose in her life,” Marci Josephson said.

Safety advocates urged college students to match the vehicle color and model, the license tag number, and the photo of their ride-share drivers before getting in a vehicle and make the driver say their names to them before they introduce themselves.

“She simply, mistakenly, got into the car thinking it was an Uber ride,” Holbrook said.

The crime shook Columbia, the state capital where the University of South Carolina is one of the main economic engines.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and his wife, Peggy, asked on a message on Twitter for prayers for Josephson’s family.

“Peggy and I are devastated and crushed over the Josephson family losing their beautiful daughter Samantha. She was one of the brightest young stars,” McMaster wrote.

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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP . Read his work at https://apnews.com/search/jeffrey%20collins

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This story has been edited to correct the word to “trunk” instead of “truck” in 5th paragraph.

When thousands of people visit the Twin Cities for the NCAA Final Four this weekend, a team of law enforcement leaders will be keeping watch from their command post.

They will be overseeing officers in the streets and at U.S. Bank Stadium, with the goal of ensuring safety for everyone during one of the nation’s biggest annual events. The team has had a little practice.

Police will be using lessons learned and equipment obtained from when the Twin Cities hosted the Super Bowl last year. Officers from dozens of departments aided in the Super Bowl detail — which at times had a military atmosphere and proceeded without any major hitches.

“It is so rewarding to see all the puzzle pieces coming together after months and months of planning,” said Cydni Bickerstaff, Minneapolis Final Four Local Organizing Committee vice president of event operations. “We have set the table and are ready to host over 90,000 people.”

For police, one takeaway from the 2018 Super Bowl was the importance of the high-tech Multi-Agency Command Center, said Lt. Jon Kingsbury, the deputy public safety incident commander for the Final Four.

The command center is in a secret downtown Minneapolis location. It’s where decision-makers from various departments can view what’s happening on the streets in real time from the city’s public safety cameras, see the locations of officers on a large 3-D map and coordinate with each other face to face.

The center has been instrumental for recent big events and will be busy again during the Final Four games.

BIG CROWDS, BIG UNDERTAKING

Police are expecting the Final Four, and festivities surrounding it, to be safe and family friendly, Kingsbury said. Along with the games at the stadium, there will be a fan festival at the Minneapolis Convention Center, concerts at the Armory and a street fair along the Nicollet Mall.

The events from April 5-8 are expected to draw about 94,000 visitors, according to the Final Four Local Organizing Committee. The stadium will be able to hold 72,000 people.

RELATED: Read all the Pioneer Press coverage of the Final Four here.

To keep them safe, law enforcement from 23 local agencies have partnered with Minneapolis police to provide officers during the events. For the Super Bowl, the Minnesota National Guard helped with security; they won’t be during the Final Four.

More than 1,300 officers will be working — though not all at once — during the four days. On Saturday, what Kingsbury believes will be the busiest day, about 920 officers will be working.

Local police aren’t on the hook for staffing costs — the anticipated $1.3 million price tag was paid by the local organizing committee, a nonprofit acting as local planning partner for the event.

ST. PAUL OFFICER PLAYED COLLEGE BALL

While there were some events in St. Paul and Bloomington for the Super Bowl, all the Final Four activities are concentrated in downtown Minneapolis.

St. Paul is sending nearly 150 officers to help and the Ramsey County Sheriff’s office is detailing about 30 deputies.

Both departments said they will maintain normal staffing levels back home.

“We wouldn’t send anybody over if we felt it would have a detriment on serving the city of St. Paul because that’s our No. 1 priority, said St. Paul Police Senior Cmdr. Kurt Hallstrom.

Among those working inside the stadium will be St. Paul police Sgt. Sarah Nasset. She was a point guard for two years at what is now Central Methodist University in Missouri.

Nasset is excited to be close to the action at U.S. Bank Stadium, though she won’t have the experience of being there as a fan since she’ll be focused on everyone’s safety.

“My dream come true would be to go see the Final Four for the women,” Nasset said. “It will be on my bucket list, maybe when I retire.”

PLANNING FOR MORE THAN A YEAR

Minneapolis police said there were no major crime problems during the Super Bowl, and Kingsbury anticipates the Final Four will be similarly safe.

In the days around the Super Bowl at U.S. Bank Stadium, police arrested men in undercover sex trafficking stings. Law enforcement also found more than 150 counterfeit tickets on game day.

They’ve been preparing for Final Four security for more than a year, since the Super Bowl wrapped up.

In February, the FBI put local departments through a tabletop exercise. It was a time when they practiced their responses to various situations, from worst-case disasters to a foodborne illness outbreak, Kingsbury said.

Kingsbury’s overall message for basketball fans and other visitors checking out Final Four events is to have fun and stay safe.

“Like the NCAA says, ‘Know before you go,’ ” he said recently. “Know where you’re going, know what you’re doing, know your surroundings, just the general basic safety practices that a family coming downtown would normally do.”

And noting that many of the visitors will be on foot, Kingsbury cautioned motorists to “pay attention when you’re driving downtown. There will be a lot of visitors to the area and not everybody’s going to know where they’re going.”

College basketball fans looking to score some tickets to the NCAA Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis might want to remember those scammed during the Super Bowl.

With tickets to the basketball games selling for between $165 and $31,000 through the NCAA’s ticket vendor, scammers are sure to be looking to capitalize on the event.

That’s what happened to dozens of people who spent $400 to $5,000 on counterfeit Super Bowl tickets last year and didn’t find out they were fake until they arrived at U.S. Bank Stadium to get in. Law enforcement found 154 counterfeit tickets on game day, seven times as many as at the previous Super Bowl.

The Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota is urging basketball fans to be vigilant about buying from reputable ticket brokers. Last year, the bureau received nearly 400 reports through its online “Scam Tracker” about ticket scams related to sporting events, concerts, theater and more.

The BBB offers these tips:

• Buy from the venue whenever possible to ensure legitimacy.
• Do a quick search on the seller/broker. Look them up on bbb.org to learn what other customers have experienced, or use VerifiedTicketSource.com to confirm they are a member of the National Association of Ticket Brokers.
• Look at the web address: A common ticket scam trick is to create a web address that is similar to a well-known company. Also, look for the lock symbol in the address to indicate a secure purchasing system.
• Know the refund policy. Only buy tickets from a ticket reseller that provides clear details about the terms of the transaction. Sellers should disclose the location of the seats on the tickets and when the tickets will ship or be available for pickup.
• Use payment methods that come with protection. Always use a credit card so you have some recourse if the tickets are not as promised. Debit cards, wire transfers or cash transactions are risky; if the tickets are fraudulent, you won’t be able to get your money back.
• Be wary of advertisements. When you search the web for online tickets, advertisements for cheap tickets will often appear. Some of these ads are going to be ticket scams, especially if the prices are low.
• Verify your tickets by visiting the venue. Present your ticket to “Will Call” (customer service), and they can verify whether your ticket is legitimate and show you how to tell whether a ticket is fake.

Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor is set to stand trial for the fatal shooting of Justine Damond, an unarmed Australian woman who called 911 to report a possible sexual assault happening in the alley behind her home.

Noor, who was fired after the July 2017 shooting, is charged with murder.

Here are some key elements as jury selection begins Monday:

JUSTINE DAMOND SHOOTING: WHAT HAPPENED

Noor, 33, shot Damond after she approached his police cruiser. Damond, a 40-year-old life coach and dual Australian-American citizen, had called 911 to report a possible assault.

Officer Matthew Harrity was driving that night and told investigators he heard a voice and a thump and caught a glimpse of someone outside his window. Harrity said he was startled and thought his life was in danger. He said he heard a sound and looked over to see that Noor had fired past him through the driver’s side window, hitting Damond.

Noor refused to talk to investigators. He was fired after he was charged but is appealing his termination.

MOHAMED NOOR TRIAL: THE CHARGES, AND CHALLENGES

Noor, who is Somali-American, was charged with second-degree intentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The most serious charge, second-degree murder, carries a presumptive sentence of more than 25 years in prison.

Minnesota law allows police officers to use deadly force to protect themselves or their partners from death or great bodily harm, however prosecutors have said there was no evidence that Noor faced such a threat. Noor’s attorneys, though, intend to argue that he acted reasonably in self-defense.

COP CHARGES, CONVICTIONS ARE RARE

Susan Gaertner, a former Minnesota prosecutor now in private practice who has no connection to the case, said it’s difficult to prove that an officer acted unreasonably when making a split-second decision.

“The law recognizes that second-guessing that life-or-death decision is something you need to do with great care. And it’s natural for a jury to hesitate saying to a police officer, ‘Well if it had been me, I wouldn’t have pulled the trigger.’”

“These are tough, tough cases,” she said.

Police officers are rarely charged in on-duty shootings, much less convicted. A database published by the Washington Post shows that since the start of 2015, U.S. police officers have shot and killed between 900 to 1,000 people each year.

Since 2005, though, only 98 nonfederal officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter in an on-duty shooting, according to data compiled by Philip Stinson, a criminologist at Bowling Green State University. Some of those prosecutions are pending, but only 35 officers have been convicted, and often those convictions were for lesser offenses, Stinson said.

Only three officers stand convicted of murder; four others had their murder convictions overturned.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN MOHAMED NOOR TRIAL

Noor’s partner, Harrity, is expected to testify, along with several experts on forensics and the use of force by police. Damond’s fiance, Don Damond, is also expected to testify. He was out of town on the night Justine was killed, but he spoke to her by phone while she was waiting for the police.

Noor’s attorneys haven’t said whether he will testify. If he does, prosecutors may be able to introduce some evidence that the defense wanted to keep out of the state’s case, including that he refused to speak to investigators. They also could bring up a 2015 psychological test that showed Noor disliked being around people and had difficulty confronting others. Despite that test, a psychiatrist found him fit to be a cadet officer.

The trial is expected to last weeks.

IMPACT OF JUSTINE DAMOND CASE

Damond’s death spurred immediate changes and cost people their jobs.

The police chief at the time, Janee Harteau, was out of state when the shooting happened and didn’t return for several days. When she did return, she found herself defending Noor’s training, and she was soon forced out of her job by Mayor Betsy Hodges. Hodges, herself, lost her bid for re-election four months after Damond’s death in a race influenced by that shooting and the 2015 police shooting of Jamar Clark, a black man killed in a struggle with two officers.

Medaria Arradondo, who replaced Harteau as police chief, immediately moved to strengthen the department’s policy on body cameras by requiring that they be activated immediately when an officer responds to a call or makes a traffic stop.

Separately, Damond’s father, John Ruszczyk, has filed a $50 million lawsuit against Noor, Harrity, the city and police leaders, alleging that his daughter’s civil rights were violated. That case is on hold in federal court until criminal case is resolved.

Maplewood Mayor Marylee Abrams held an emergency meeting Monday afternoon with the police chief, the city attorney and the city manager to talk about options regarding the public safety risks at Myth Live nightclub.

The meeting came after a patron was treated for a drug overdose and an 18-year-old was shot in the neck in a parking lot outside the club at 3090 Southlawn Drive.

The condition of the 18-year-old, who hasn’t been identified, was upgraded Monday from critical to serious. Police have made no arrests in the Friday night case.

“It concerns me that in one night we had an overdose and a shooting where someone was critically injured,” Abrams said. “The city staff is putting together options today. I’ll be talking with them about that. It will be an agenda item at our council meeting next Monday.”

Will they consider closing the venue?

“I think it’s premature to go there,” she said.

Cmdr. Dave Kvam of the Maplewood Police Department said he hopes Myth will take steps to curb violence.

“We have an expectation that businesses serve as public safety partners, doing their part to prevent problems and provide for the safety and security of their guests and the general public who might be impacted,” Kvam said.

Calls to Myth for comment were not returned Monday.

Aaron Huisenga, of Hugo, worked security at Myth from 2015 to 2017 and said the nightclub took public safety seriously. EMTs were on hand for people experiencing drug overdoses or other health issues.

Patrons were wanded at the door and when things got rowdy, the Maplewood police were notified. Huisenga said there was some security in the parking lot, but that most of it focused on the venue.

He cites two possible reasons for the recent violence after years of nothing more serious than a few fights.

New management wanted the venue’s security to move people in and out more quickly, making the checks less thorough. He also faults unruly neighbors in the area.

“Don’t hate on the venue, because for the couple years I worked there we didn’t have any shootings,” he said.

Myth has made the news a few times since it opened in 2005. A multimillion-dollar renovation transformed the former Just for Feet retail store into a concert venue and dance club with a 3,000 capacity.

For a brief period in 2006 and 2007, Twin Cities auto mogul Denny Hecker, who in 2011 did jail time for conspiracy and fraud, controlled a company that owned the Myth property.

In 2006, a man was shot twice in the abdomen after an altercation in the parking lot.

Myth closed in 2009 and in 2010 owner Michael Ogren was arrested on a felony check fraud warrant from Clark County, Nev. Ogren was eventually sentenced to six months in jail for defrauding an Anoka County bank of $600,000.

In 2011, Mike Miranowski, a former manager at Myth, applied for and received a liquor license from the city with conditions. He reopened the nightclub later that year. On opening night, police responded to several large fights and made multiple arrests.

In 2013, two men were charged with second-degree assault following an argument in which one man was shot in the leg.

A former Lakeville middle school teacher has pleaded guilty to two counts each of gross misdemeanor stalking and felony burglary in connection with a rash of crimes that he blamed on “financial ruin.”

Christopher Jerome Endicott, 51, of Apple Valley, entered the guilty pleas Monday in Dakota County District Court in Hastings. On Feb. 1, Endicott pleaded guilty to felony identity theft.

As part of Monday’s plea agreement with prosecutors, one count each of gross misdemeanor theft and felony financial transaction card fraud will be dismissed at sentencing, which is set for June 17. The two stalking charges were also reduced from felony level.

Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom said Monday his office will be seeking an aggravated upward departure, which would add up to 13 years and six months in prison.

“That’s the most we can seek under state sentencing guidelines in connection with the most serious offense,” he said. “There were 14 identity theft victims, two stalking victims and two victims involved in burglary offenses … so it’s certainly a troubling series of cases.”

Meanwhile, Endicott’s attorney, Bruce Rivers, said Monday he will be asking for probation, based upon Endicott’s ongoing therapy and amenability to probation.

“So there’s a big gap between what both sides are seeking in the sentencing in this case,” Backstrom said. “Obviously we think this is serious patterns of criminal behavior that warrants a lengthy prison term.”

Also Monday, Judge Tim Wermager ordered that Endicott undergo a presentence investigation and psychological evaluation.

Before joining Century Middle School in Lakeville as its principal in 2012, Endicott was the assistant principal at Dakota Hills Middle School in Eagan, which also is in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district. He resigned in May 2018.

‘FINANCIAL RUIN’

The slew of allegations against Endicott surfaced in January 2018 after Apple Valley police said someone from his home accessed a phone and an iPad that belong to the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district, where his wife worked as a counselor and teacher.

Endicott would later be accused of stealing personal and financial information from employees of the school district, their family members and others.

Search warrants were executed at Endicott’s work and Apple Valley home, and computers and other electronic equipment were seized. Analysis of the electronics revealed significant personal and financial information about school employees and others, the charges say.

Investigators discovered Endicott made purchases using their credit cards and wrote about accessing several accounts. In one writing, Endicott indicated that he was in “financial ruin,” according to charges.

NEIGHBORS ALSO TARGETED

In March 2018, Endicott was accused of burglary for breaking into his next-door neighbors’ home in Apple Valley in 2015 while they were away, prying open a safe and stealing two rings. The rings were found in Endicott’s file cabinet at Century Middle School in February and traced back to the neighbors.

Also in March 2018, he was charged with second-degree burglary and theft for allegedly stealing sports cards in late 2017 from someone who rented his house. An employee of a sports memorabilia store put a value of $738 on the stolen cards, charges said.

Before Monday’s guilty pleas, other than a speeding conviction in Dakota County in 2011, Endicott had not had a criminal record in Minnesota, court records show.

His attorney said Endicott “feels terrible” and that “he is sorry to his victims.”

“This is not who he thought he was going to be at this point in his life,” Rivers said.

By JEFF BAENEN

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — About 75 potential jurors in the case of a former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed Australian woman answered written questions Monday about their own backgrounds and experiences with people of Somali heritage.

Prosecutors and attorneys for Mohamed Noor will use the questionnaires as they start winnowing the jury pool down to 12 jurors and four alternates. Direct questioning of the jurors begins Wednesday.

Noor, 33, is charged in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond in a case that drew international attention, cost the police chief her job and forced major revisions to the Minneapolis Police Department’s policy on body cameras. Damond was killed after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home.

Prosecutors charged Noor with second-degree intentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, saying there is no evidence Noor faced a threat that justified deadly force.

They must prove he acted unreasonably when he shot Damond , a 40-year-old life coach with both U.S. and Australian citizenship who was engaged to be married. Noor’s attorneys plan to argue that he used reasonable force and acted in self-defense.

Members of a group called Justice for Justine said Monday they are glad Noor is being prosecuted, but questioned whether the case would have received the same rigorous investigation if he was not Somali American and Damond was not white.

It’s rare for police officers to be charged in on-duty shootings . Alana Ramadan says she feels Noor is being used as a “sacrificial lamb” because he’s a minority. Others called for vigorous investigations into all police shooting cases, regardless of the victim’s race.

In addition, Noor’s trial is being held in one of the smallest courtrooms in Hennepin County and the judge has said graphic evidence will be shown only to the jury, not the public.

Todd Schuman, a member of Justice for Justine, called limited seating and restrictions on evidence “a First Amendment violation that cripples public insight into the trial and is a slap in the face to advocates who have spent years working for justice in cases like these.”

Later Monday, the Star Tribune reported that Judge Kathryn Quaintance and Chief Judge Ivy Bernhardson issued an order adding more media seating at trial, in response to concerns from activists and journalists about public access. Seven seats will be added to the courtroom, raising the number for media members from eight to 15. Six will be reserved for local outlets and nine for national or international outlets.

Noor has refused to talk to investigators and his attorneys haven’t said whether he will testify at his trial, which could last weeks. He did not respond to reporters’ questions as he and his attorneys arrived at the courthouse Monday.

The potential jurors filled out a questionnaire during a half-day session. Questions included whether jurors owned firearms and whether they have family or friends who have protested government agencies.

Judge Quaintance ordered that jurors’ names be withheld during the trial, citing threatening phone calls made to her chambers and public interest in the case.

Noor’s partner the night of the shooting, Officer Matthew Harrity, told investigators he was driving a police SUV when he heard a voice and a thump and caught a glimpse of someone outside his window. Harrity said he was startled and thought his life was in danger. He said he then heard a noise and turned to see that Noor, in the passenger seat, had fired his gun past Harrity and hit Damond through the driver’s side window.

The officers did not turn on their body cameras until after the shooting, and there was no squad car video.

The lack of video was widely criticized. Days later, the Police Department strengthened its body camera policy. The shooting also raised questions about the training of Noor, who previously worked in property management.

Then-Chief Janee Harteau defended Noor’s training and said he was suited to be on the street. Harteau was forced to resign.

Court documents later revealed that training officers voiced concerns about Noor’s fitness for duty long before he shot Damond, but he was deemed fit to serve.

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Associated Press writer Amy Forliti contributed to this report.

By BLAKE NICHOLSON

MANDAN, N.D. (AP) — Four people were found dead Monday in what police called a “multiple homicide” at a North Dakota property-management business.

The bodies of three men and a woman were discovered inside RJR Maintenance and Management in Mandan, a city of about 22,000 just across the Missouri River west of Bismarck, Police Chief Jason Ziegler said. The victims weren’t immediately identified and police didn’t say how they died.

“It’s quite a large crime scene, so it’s not something that’s going to be easy for us to get in and do quickly,” Ziegler said of the pace of the investigation.

Officers were combing through the building, which includes an office area in the front and a large warehouse area in the back, and planned to be there “as long as it takes us to get everything that we need,” the chief said.

Ziegler said someone other than the four people who were found dead is responsible for the killings. However, police have not yet identified a suspect and have no motive.

“The crime scene is contained to where it’s at, and there is no evidence based upon what we see that the public at large is in any danger from what happened there,” Ziegler said. “It looks like an isolated incident.”

He said he was not aware of officers responding to any other recent incidents at the business that might have been connected to the killings.

The building has many surveillance cameras, Ziegler said. He asked other businesses in the area that might have video footage they consider relevant to come forward.

Police announced in a brief statement Monday morning that they had found “several” bodies while responding to a “medical call” to RJR. As hours passed without additional information, people with friends or loved ones who work at RJR gathered beyond a police line, anxious for news about those inside.

Judy Praus, 70, said she was a longtime friend of the owner’s family and had just seen them at a restaurant Saturday. She said she also knew a lot of employees, and had no details on any of them.

“When I was notified, I shattered. Unbelievable,” she said.

Gina Kessel, 52, of Mandan, showed up at the business Monday to pick up her son, Mitchell Kessel, an employee there. She said Mitchell “called me, said something is going on.” She said he didn’t tell her what.

She and her son hugged, with both of them crying. The son declined comment before going back behind a police line.

A statement posted on the company’s website said the business was closed Monday. No one answered the phone at RJR, which is somewhat isolated despite its location in a business district near a busy main road known as The Strip. A large empty lot sits in the front, a golf course in back and a soccer complex to one side.

Darin Helbling, a manager at a nearby bowling alley, said police asked to see his business’ surveillance video. Helbling said the video showed only a couple of vehicles on the road that separates the businesses since 10 p.m. Sunday.

RJR’s website identified it as a family-owned company that has been handling commercial and residential properties in Bismarck and Mandan for more than 20 years. Its services include collecting rent for landlords, paying mortgages, re-renting apartments, building and grounds maintenance, lawn care, and snow removal. It also rents out storage units.

A “Meet Our Team” feature on the website pictured 22 employees.

Natasha Towne said her brother, Adam Fuehrer, has worked at the business for about eight years. She said she didn’t know his status and was frustrated at the lack of news. She declined to talk further.

Moments before he was sentenced for the role he played in her death, Joshua D. Sykora told an emotional courtroom Brooke Ptacek-Baker gave him life again and he asks God every day to trade places with Ptacek-Baker.

“Since he hasn’t granted that wish, I do know when I go to heaven I’ll see her and we’ll spend eternity together,” he said.

The 37-year-old Hastings man was sentenced Thursday to one year in jail and five years on probation with a four-year stayed prison term for the death of his girlfriend, a Hastings business owner and mother of two. The first nine months of his sentence will be served immediately, with the remaining three months to be served one month at a time over the course of three years.

The one-month terms will be served in June each year, the month of Ptacek-Baker’s death.

“Mr. Sykora will get a second chance at life, but Brooke will not get a second chance at hers,” said assistant district attorney Alexis Mckinley.

Robyn Ptacek, Ptacek-Baker’s mother, spoke at the sentencing to the loss of a child.

“It doesn’t just change you,” she said, pausing to let a wave of grief pass. “It demolishes you.”

Sykora’s sentence came more than three months after he was prepared to enter his guilty plea.

The plea deal was put on hold Jan. 4 when St. Croix County Circuit Court Judge Michael Waterman said he needed to see more from Sykora before agreeing to the reduced charge. Sykora was originally charged with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle. He pleaded guilty to homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle.

“I have seen the weight of this case,” Waterman said. “Brooke is going to be absent from infinite life events.”

Sykora drove a motorcycle that crashed June 25, 2016, on County Road F in Hudson. Ptacek-Baker’s body was found in a nearby ditch and Sykora, whose blood-alcohol level was allegedly 0.07, told officers the crash happened when he tried to avoid a deer in the road.

“If that was my wife or girlfriend lying in the ditch, I would have been lying next to her,” said Joe Ptacek, Ptacek-Baker’s father.

Waterman said while alcohol may or may not have been the cause of the crash, “Brooke stood a better chance with a sober driver.”

While that is true, Waterman continued, Sykora is not a typical convicted felon with no prior convictions and is unlikely to reoffend according to a recidivism test.

“I know you take this seriously,” Waterman said to Sykora. “This tells me society doesn’t have to worry about you.”

Sykora reported to St. Croix County Jail at 1 p.m. March 28.

“In these cases, no one wins,” Mckinley said.

The Pioneer Press contributed to this report.

An 18-year-old man is in custody after authorities say he attacked his ex-girlfriend’s grandparents at their St. Paul home last week.

Marcus Allen Ronald Dixon showed up at the Dayton’s Bluff residence in the 900 block of Conway Street about 3 p.m. last Wednesday with two females described by authorities as the young man’s new girlfriends, according to a Tuesday criminal complaint filed against Dixon in Ramsey County District Court.

The two women asked to speak with Dixon’s 18-year-old ex.

The teen’s 76-year-old grandmother told the women to leave, but they refused, according to the complaint. The woman tried to “nudge” them out of her entryway so she could close the door.

That’s when Dixon, who was waiting outside the house in a minivan with two juvenile males, ran up to the door and punched the grandmother in the mouth, knocking her to the ground, authorities say.

At that point, his ex ran down the stairs to try to protect her grandmother, prompting Dixon and the two women to turn their attention on her, the complaint said.

They started punching the teen and pulled her out of the house, authorities say. At one point, the two women ran back to the minivan and the 18-year-old chased them, eventually pulling one of them out of the vehicle, the complaint said.

The two women resumed assaulting the 18-year-old until her 75-year-old grandfather and 53-year-old uncle came out of the house, authorities say.

That’s when Dixon grabbed a metal garden spade and swung it at the back of his ex-girlfriend’s grandfather’s head, causing the man to fall and hit his forehead on the sidewalk, the complaint said. Then Dixon and his associates fled.

The couple was taken by ambulance to Regions Hospital for treatment. The extent of their injuries was not detailed in the criminal complaint.

Dixon was arrested a few days later and taken into custody.

He told officers that he decided to approach his ex’s house after he saw her grandmother push his two girlfriends, according to the complaint. He only started swinging, he continued, because “everyone” else was punching, the complaint said.

He said he remembered hitting his ex’s uncle but denied hitting either of her grandparents, charges say.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Dixon with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.

He was scheduled to make his first court appearance later Tuesday.

No attorney was listed for him in court records.

MANDAN, N.D. — Police on Tuesday identified the owner of a North Dakota property management business and three employees as the people whose bodies were found there a day earlier, and said authorities don’t yet know who killed them.

Police Chief Jason Ziegler released the names of the four victims, but offered little additional details about a mystery that has gripped the area since authorities found the bodies Monday morning at RJR Maintenance and Management in Mandan, just across the Missouri River from the state capital of Bismarck.

Ziegler did not say how the victims were killed. He said police were awaiting autopsy results and that authorities did not recover a weapon. He also would not say whether police have identified a potential motive. Yet he remained adamant that authorities do not believe the public is at risk, “based upon what we know at the crime scene.”

“This incident was specific to the victims,” Ziegler said. “We do not believe the public is in danger.”

Ziegler identified the dead as owner Robert Fakler, 52; and employees Adam Fuehrer, 42, Lois Cobb, 45, and William Cobb, 50.

The Cobbs were married. Lois Cobb’s daughter, Briann Miller, of Girard, Illinois, said her mom and stepdad had moved to North Dakota six years ago from Illinois and recently bought their dream home. She said authorities gave her no details on how they died.

“I just know that it was an attack,” Miller said. “I don’t know how it happened, what it happened with. I’m left in the dark still. None of this makes any sense. All I know is my parents are gone.”

Lois Cobb was an account specialist and William Cobb a maintenance supervisor, according to the company’s website.

Fuehrer worked in maintenance, according to his sister, Natascha Towne, who spoke briefly to The Associated Press on Monday when she showed up at the business in search of answers about his status. She could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

Clients and friends of Fakler described him as cheerful and hard working.

“I can’t imagine that he had any enemies,” said Ann Farrell, who fought backs tears as she talked about a conversation she had with him Sunday night. He was “very much in a good mood,” the Bismarck woman said.

She her brother, Rolf Eggers, were both clients and friends of Fakler’s.

“I wish I could turn back time and warn him,” Eggers said.

Ziegler said investigators were reviewing video from the scene and surrounding businesses and that “we’ve got a lot of good leads, a lot of good information.” He appealed for the public’s help, and said authorities planned to re-interview more than 30 people.

“A lot of the questions … we just don’t have answers right now,” Ziegler said. “We’ve got to be able to do our investigation and put these puzzles together.”

Miller said her mother and stepdad never gave any indication to her of any problems at work. She last spoke with her mom on Saturday.

“They talked so highly of the Bismarck and Mandan area, how beautiful it was, how amazing the people were,” Miller said. “They were so nice to everybody, too. It’s just unimaginable.”

Mandan has about 22,000 residents, while neighboring Bismarck has about 73,000. Mandan had not had a homicide since November 2016, and had only three in the past six years. In that time period, neighboring Bismarck had seven homicides.

The RJR building is somewhat isolated despite its location in a business district near a busy main road known as The Strip. A large empty lot sits in the front, a golf course in back and a soccer complex to one side.

RJR’s website identified it as a family-owned company that has been handling commercial and residential properties in the area for more than 20 years. Its services include collecting rent for landlords, paying mortgages, re-renting apartments, building and grounds maintenance, lawn care, and snow removal. It also rents out storage units.

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Associated Press journalist Dave Kolpack in Fargo and news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

HINCKLEY, Minn. — A medical examiner’s office on Tuesday said that a Coon Rapids man was a homicide victim after he died in January following an altercation at Grand Casino Hinckley.

Shortly after 11 p.m. on Jan. 2, Pine County sheriff’s deputies responded to the casino on a report of a 58-year-old man who was bleeding from the ear after being pushed by another man.

Donald Ross McElderry Jr. was transported to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, where he died of his injuries on Jan. 14.

The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office determined that the death was a homicide resulting from blunt-force head trauma.

No arrests have been made, but a suspect has been identified and was a known acquaintance of McElderry. According to authorities, witnesses and the suspect were cooperative at the scene.

The Pine County attorney’s office is reviewing the case for possible charges.

A man died early Wednesday when a car struck his vehicle as he pulled out of a St. Paul driveway, according to police.

Police suspect the 19-year-old driver of the striking vehicle had been drinking and he was arrested, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman. He was taken to Regions Hospital with non-life threatening injuries after the crash on the city’s West Side.

Jose Vasquez Guillen, of St. Paul, was booked into the Ramsey County jail Wednesday morning on suspicion of criminal vehicular homicide. A case had not been presented to prosecutors for charging consideration as of Wednesday.

Officers responded to a report of a two-vehicle crash at Page and Concord streets at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.

A man was found trapped inside his Saturn, and firefighters responded to extricate him from the car and treat him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, Ernster said.

The crash’s cause is under investigation, though preliminary information shows Vasquez Guillen was driving a Honda Civic southeast on Concord when he struck the man’s Saturn, which was pulling out of a driveway near Page Street to head northwest on Concord, Ernster said.

Police have not released the name of the man who died.

Ramsey County authorities have dropped charges against a St. Paul man previously accused of harming a 2-year-old girl.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office declined to go into detail about what prompted the dismissal of the case against Oscar Amaya the same week it was scheduled to go to trial. They did say it needs more police work.

“We received additional information that merits further investigation,” said Dennis Gehardstein, office spokesman.

Amaya’s attorney, Jeremy Plesha, said investigators hastily and unfairly homed in on his client as the culprit when evidence pointed elsewhere.

“I think the investigator just turned a blind eye to who the real culprits were here,” Plesha said. He added that there was evidence to suggest that the child suffered abuse long before “Oscar Amaya ever entered the picture.”

Amaya, 22, was dating the child’s mother in the winter of 2018 when she brought her 2-year-old girl to Children’s Hospital for treatment of a red mark on her head as well as a bump that resembled an “egg,” according to the criminal complaint against Amaya.

Doctors discovered bruises all over the child’s body, including her eyes, ribs, legs and back, as well as injuries to her tongue, nose and head.

She was diagnosed with a complex skull fracture that authorities said would “likely cause permanent impairment of the function of (her) brain.”

No update on the girl’s condition was available Wednesday.

Her mother told officers at the time that she had noticed her daughter’s head injury while the two were dining at Boca Chica along with Amaya on Feb. 27, 2018.

Shortly before arriving at the restaurant, she left her child in the car with Amaya while she ran into a doctor’s appointment at Bethesda Clinic, she said.

Aside from a few bruises on her body she assumed were from playing, the girl’s mother told police her daughter was fine when she entered the clinic.

She went on to say that her daughter sometimes seemed afraid of Amaya during the eight months she’d been dating him, and said she sometimes left the 2-year-old alone with him when she showered.

Amaya denied hurting the child or his mother and said the couple both panicked when they noticed the child’s injury at Boca Chica.

He was charged last June with first- and third-degree assault as well as three counts of malicious punishment toward a child.

He has no prior felonies on his criminal record.

Amaya’a attorney said his client was relieved to learn the charges against him were dropped.

“He was pleased to learn that in the end justice was done and he could go back to his family and his normal life,” Plesha said.

St. Paul police say its work to find out what happened and who was responsible will continue.

“We’ll continue to investigate this case and work with the Ramsey County Attorney’s office to find justice for this child,” said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.

Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report

A judge and attorneys winnowed the jury pool Wednesday for the murder trial of a former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault near her home.

Another four prospective jurors were excused from the trial of Mohamed Noor in the afternoon.

A retired school principal was let go after she questioned why police would have to shoot someone. A young woman was told she could leave after saying she identified with the victim, Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual Australian-U.S. citizen who had approached Noor’s squad car after summoning police to the alley behind her home.

Two men were excused after saying they would face financial hardships if they stayed for a trial that could last three to four weeks.

Noor, 33, is charged with murder and manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Damond, a life coach who was engaged to marry a Minneapolis man. Noor has declined to speak to investigators, but his attorneys plan to argue that he acted in self-defense.

Attorneys and the judge agreed to excuse five potential jurors Wednesday morning based on their written answers to questions such as their experiences with a person of Somali heritage. Noor is Somali-American. One of the dismissed jurors wrote that Noor “shouldn’t have been a cop” and should be “punished.”

Another prospective juror, a young man whose uncle was shot in a gas station robbery, was questioned in court and excused after saying his family members are hunters but that he found it “hard to understand why anyone would fire a weapon at another human and take their life.”

A total of 16 potential jurors have been excused so far. A pool of 75 potential jurors filled out questionnaires Monday. Jury selection continues Thursday.

The Falcon Heights fire chief who was recently fired by the city has been arrested for allegedly threatening city officials.

Rich Hinrichs, who was fired as fire chief in February, was booked into Ramsey County jail Tuesday evening on suspicion of terroristic threats. He remained in jail Wednesday afternoon, and had not been charged.

City Administrator Sack Thongvanh said Hinrichs had made a threat toward him and council members. The verbal threat regarding them was made to another firefighter, not written or in person, Thongvanh said.

Beyond that, Thongvanh said he couldn’t comment on the incident as it remained under investigation.

The Falcon Heights City Council meets on Tuesdays, but the arrest did not occur at city hall.

Deputies went to Hinrichs’ residence in Roseville, where “he voluntarily came out of his residence and cooperated with the deputies,” and was arrested, said Roy Magnuson, Ramsey County sheriff’s office spokesman. Magnuson declined further comment on the investigation.

In late February, the council voted to terminate Hinrichs, with then-Mayor Peter Lindstrom saying the chief had  “consistently violated the policies of the city of Falcon Heights, specifically our policy related to having a respectful workplace.” Several firefighters, including a former chief and Hinrichs’ assistant chief, spoke in support of him.

Hinrichs claimed the termination was due to personality conflicts with the former mayor, who since stepped down to join the Metropolitan Council. Current Mayor Randy Gustafson was on vacation Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

A review of Hinrichs’ personnel file showed disciplinary action attributed to clashes with both the former mayor and Thongvanh over training and combative correspondence, including one angry outburst that included “screaming and yelling” and Hinrichs allegedly calling a finance director “old and senile.”

After a man’s stolen firearm was found in St. Paul, police told him he would have to wait three years to get it back.

In another instance, St. Paul police seized the gun of a man — who had a permit to carry — after he was arrested and briefly detained. He also received the same response to his requests to the police department: They would be keeping the gun for three years.

On Wednesday, the St. Paul City Council approved $22,000 to settle a federal lawsuit over police policy on returning firearms. The police department also changed its policy, which now says firearms should be handed over within one year in cases that are not charged.

Attorney A.L. Brown said he is certain the policy was changed because he raised the issue in the lawsuit.

St. Paul City Attorney Lyndsey Olson said the city was already “looking for better ways to leverage available technology to solve gun crimes” before the lawsuit was filed in September 2017. “As a result, the SPPD implemented a new policy which includes a shorter retention period for firearms that are not linked to pending investigations.”

The lawsuit had an impact on the timing of the policy change, which went into effect in September 2018, Olson said.

Andrew Henderson said he got involved because he wanted to see the policy changed.

Henderson’s firearm was stolen from his Little Canada residence in February 2016 and St. Paul police found it in a man’s possession three months later. Police told Henderson they determined the weapon was not used in any crimes, but he couldn’t have it back for three years.

“I thought that was pretty ridiculous,” Henderson said. “When someone reports that their property is stolen, they expect it to be returned to them when it’s recovered by the police. There is no logical reason for them to keep it in their possession for three years. The evidentiary value of the firearm has already been tested, documented and cataloged.”

The city decided to settle the lawsuit, which was brought by Jared Sande, Olson said, “because there was no indication that the firearms at issue were linked to any pending investigations and changes to the city’s policies and procedures rendered continued litigation unnecessary.”

POLICY PREVIOUSLY KEPT GUNS FOR 3 YEARS

In July 2015, when police pulled Sande over, he informed an officer there was a gun in the vehicle.

Officers also found a small amount of marijuana and a scale, which the passenger said belonged to him.

Police arrested Sande, though he was released within an hour of his interview with police and not charged, his lawsuit said. His gun permit was returned, but not his firearm.

Sande’s several attempts to retrieve his gun were denied by police.

In August 2017, Sande received a letter from police saying that policy required the gun be sent to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for ballistic testing and the gun must remain in the department’s possession until July 2018.

The police department adopted the three-year retention policy because, although a firearm may come back from the BCA without a connection to a possible crime, “the information needed to make that correlation may not have been processed yet by the BCA,” according to a filing by the city attorney’s office.

FIREARMS RETURNED, POLICY CHANGED

Sande filed his lawsuit on Sept. 25, 2017, alleging constitutional violations in St. Paul police policy, including conducting searches “of firearms belonging to private citizens without a warrant and despite the fact that any criminal investigation has ended.”

The police department sent Sande a letter on Oct. 10, 2017, saying they no longer had an evidentiary reason to keep his gun.

After Henderson heard about the lawsuit and contacted Brown, the attorney, he was able to get his firearm back in January 2018. Henderson and Sande will receive the settlement.

New St. Paul police policy says that when a case is not charged and there are no investigative leads from ballistic testing, the firearm should be kept by the police department for up to six months “to allow for the potential of new leads coming in from other agencies.”

If firearm testing generates leads, the police department can hold the gun for up to one year to allow time for investigators to follow up on the information.

DULUTH, Minn. — A breath test indicated Duluth Fire Chief Dennis Edwards Jr. had a blood-alcohol content of 0.22 percent — more than 2½ times Minnesota’s legal limit of 0.08 percent — according to a criminal complaint.

Edwards has been placed on administrative leave following his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving.

He was pulled over at about 11:40 p.m. Saturday by a St. Louis County sheriff’s deputy. The officer said he observed an SUV heading north attempt to pass a vehicle in a no-passing zone going up a hill. The vehicle subsequently wandered in the driving lane, according to the complaint.

Deputies detected “a strong odor of alcohol, and the defendant’s eyes were glassy and bloodshot.” When they asked Edwards if he had been drinking, he responded: “Yes.”

The deputies asked Edwards to undergo standard field-sobriety tests, and he reportedly performed “poorly.”

Edwards is scheduled to appear in court on April 11 before Judge Jill Eichenwald on two counts of driving while impaired in the third degree — one charge based on his initial breath test and the subsequent charge based on the test administered within two hours of his arrest, where his blood-alcohol content at that time registered 0.21 percent.