At weekly community cookouts, the St. Paul Police Department is offering more than food and education this summer — they will be etching small translucent numbers into car dashboards.

The Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) act as fingerprints for vehicles and are used to help determine if a car is stolen. VINS are often printed on several parts of a car to make it more difficult for car thieves to remove them.

They normally cost about $700, according to St. Paul Police Cmdr. Jeff Stiff. But this summer, with the help of a state grant, St. Paul police are doing the VIN etchings for free at Safe Summer Nights gatherings.

Police will use tools from a special etching kit to print out small stickers with VINs on them before using acid to help put translucent VINs onto the lower left dashboard of cars, as well as other places like the driver’s side window.

In addition to VINs, St. Paul police are hoping to have one-on-one conversations with event attendees, telling them about protections they can take against auto theft.

“It’s a really good opportunity and chance to talk to the actual investigators that investigate auto theft,” Stiff said. “Vehicle theft has been on the rise lately and we are making a concerted effort to temper that back.”

The first Safe Summer Nights was Thursday, and they are held each Thursday throughout the summer at different locations in St. Paul. More information can be found at http://bit.ly/SafeSummerNights2019.

Police arrested a Cottage Grove man Friday morning after he allegedly abducted his two daughters and assaulted their mother.

Cottage Grove Police announced at 10:30 a.m. that Jeffrey Lo was apprehended with the girls, ages 1 and 3, after an Amber Alert was issued.

According to police, Lo assaulted the mother at about 6:30 a.m., and escaped with the girls in her minivan. The van was found at about 9:30 a.m.

Lo and the girls were found near the intersection of 72nd Street and Hinton Avenue in Cottage Grove.

Crestview Elementary School, 7830 80th Street, imposed a “modified lockdown” Friday morning, the  South Washington County School District reported. No students were in the building Friday.

Police said that Lo was armed.

A judge granted his wife an Order for Protection May 7 after she filed for one in early April, court records show.

In her request for the order, she said Lo had been abusive to her since the birth of their first daughter. She described an incident in March where he started pulling her hair and punching her arm because he was mad at her for sleeping on the floor instead of with him.

She tried to escape by running outside, but Lo pulled her back in by the hair and threatened to kill her if she sought help, she wrote in the petition.

He then began to refrain her from leaving the home with both their children, always insisting she leave at least one behind to ensure she returned, the woman wrote.

When she finally left him and began staying with her parents in late March, Lo started showing up at their home and trying to find her at her workplace, the petition said.

The woman indicated she believed she and her three children were in imminent danger.

Lo was charged in April with fourth-degree criminal damage to property for reportedly trying to kick a taillight on a vehicle parked in her parents’ driveway last February.

The home is located on the 8000 block of Grospoint Avenue South in Cottage Grove.

He was supposed to appear for a hearing in that case May 9 but never showed up, so a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The no-show took place two days after his wife’s order for protection went into effect.

Police did not release the name of the mother or the location of the abduction.

A Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder was sentenced Friday to 12½ years in prison for the shooting of an unarmed woman who had called 911, and he apologized in court for “taking the life of a perfect person.”

Mohamed Noor was convicted in April of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia. Noor shot Damond when she approached his squad car in the alley behind her home.

Noor’s lawyers had argued for a light sentence, saying sending him to prison would only compound the tragedy, and that incarceration won’t let him do service to make amends for killing Damond.

But Judge Kathryn Quaintance sentenced the 33-year-old to a sentence identical to the recommendation under state guidelines.

An emotional Noor, his voice breaking as he spoke about the shooting for the first time, said he can’t apologize enough.

“I have lived with this and I will continue to live with this,” Noor said. “I caused this tragedy and it is my burden. I wish though that I could relieve that burden others feel from the loss that I caused. I cannot, and that is a troubling reality for me.”

Noor said from the moment he pulled the trigger he felt fear and when he saw her body on the ground he was horrified.

“Seeing her there, I knew in an instant I was wrong,” Noor said. “The depth of my error has only increased from that moment on. Working to save her life and watching her slip away is a feeling I can’t explain. … It leaves me sad, it leaves me numb, and feeling incredibly lonely. But none of that, none of those words capture what it truly feels like.”

Noor’s attorneys argued in a court filing ahead of Friday’s sentencing that nobody would benefit from a long sentence, and that being in prison would keep Noor from making amends for killing Damond by doing good works in the community. They submitted letters of support that they said showed that Noor is a kind and peaceful man who has tried to be a bridge between Somali Americans in Minnesota and the larger community.

Tom Plunkett, Noor’s attorney, made the case for a lenient sentence saying the victim can’t be forgotten but what’s best for the community and Noor must also be considered.

“I have never stood up at sentencing with anyone my entire career that’s done more or worked harder to be a good person, to earn the gifts he’s been given,” Plunkett said. “That’s who Mohamed Noor is.”

But prosecutor Amy Sweasy called for the 12.5-year sentence recommended under state guidelines.

“The law is not concerned necessarily with what’s good for the community,” Sweasy said. “The court must give a sentence proportional in severity to the crime committed.”

A jury convicted Noor in April of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia who was engaged to be married a month after the shooting. Noor shot Damond when she approached his squad car in the alley behind her home.

Don Damond, Justine’s fiance, said in court Friday that every time he sees the alley where she walked barefoot and in her pajamas toward the police car he relives the moment.

“In my mind I beg you to turn around,” he said, speaking of a “lost future” of decades filled with “love, family, joy and laughter.” He said Justine was his soul mate and he misses her “every day, every moment.”

“We both lived with our hearts open, caring for others,” an emotional Don Damond said.

Noor testified during his trial that a loud bang on the squad car scared him and his partner, and that he saw a woman at his partner’s window raising her arm. He said he fired to protect his partner’s life. But prosecutors criticized Noor for shooting without seeing a weapon or Damond’s hands, and disputed whether either of them really heard a bang.

Justine’s father John Ruszczyk, in a statement read in court, asked for the maximum sentence and called her killing “an obscene act by an agent of the state.”

“Justine’s death has left me incomplete — it is as if I have lost a limb or a leg,” he said in the statement. “I have lost my daughter, I have lost those private conversations over tea.”

Noor sat quietly at the defense table with hands clasped, staring straight ahead and showing no emotion as victim impact statements were read.

Damond’s death sparked bewilderment and outrage in both the U.S. and her native Australia. The case was also fraught with race. Damond was white, and Noor is Somali American, leading some to question whether the case would have been handled the same if the victim had been black and the officer white. While the city agreed to a $20 million settlement with Damond’s family soon after Noor’s conviction, it has yet to settle with the family of Jamar Clark, a black man shot by police in 2015, though in that case police said Clark was struggling for an officer’s gun.

Plunkett and fellow defense attorney Peter Wold proposed to Judge Kathryn Quaintance that she creatively sentence Noor to turn himself in to a county detention facility for a week every year on the anniversary of Damond’s death and on her birthday while he was on probation. They also proposed an annual period of community service.

Under Minnesota’s sentencing guidelines, Noor’s presumptive sentence for third-degree murder was 12½ years, although the judge had the flexibility to impose a sentence anywhere from about 11 to 15 years without providing justification. Any bigger variation would have required an explanation. The presumptive sentence on the manslaughter count was four years.

Noor had been held since his conviction in the most secure unit at the state’s maximum security prison in Oak Park Heights for his own safety, Corrections Department spokeswoman Sarah Fitzgerald said Thursday. He was kept alone in his cell but had the same privileges as other prisoners in the unit and was let out for recreation time, she said.
Noor appeared with his hair grown out, in contrast to his previously shaven head.
———
Associated Press writers Amy Forliti and Doug Glass contributed to this story.

Friday’s statement from former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor before he was sentenced to 12½ years in prison for fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk Damond:

Your honor, I appreciate the opportunity to talk about the events that I caused, that bring me here today. I’ve thought and prayed about this for the last two years, the time since I took the life of Justine Ruszczyk. I thought a lot about Miss Ruszczyk before the trial, and more so in the last month. I’ve also been thinking about all the other lives that have been changed and continue to be changed by this event. Neither of our families will ever be the same again.

I have wanted to sit with Mr. Damond and tell him about what happened, and to extend my condolences to him, for the last two years, as well as to Miss Ruszczyk’s other families. The process of the courts and the lawyers — so cruel in the way it makes us behave towards each other — the system is dehumanizing. I wish I could have contact them sooner and a different way.

I have owed Miss Ruszczyk’s family an apology for a long time. I did write them a letter while in jail, and now I apologize in person for taking the life of such a perfect person who is dear to them and so many others.

I came to be a police officer as a calling to serve my community. I loved being a police officer in Minneapolis. It was the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. I took great pride in my uniform and the job and the mission of being a police officer. I worked to be good at my job and to bring people together. I tried every day to have compassion for people and their situation in life, and hoped to make individual lives better. That was my hope before I joined, and was my mission after I began working as a police officer. Taking a life so tragically goes against all of that.

I have lived with this, and I’ll continue to live with this. I caused this tragedy, and it is my burden. I wish though that I could relieve that burden others feel from the loss that I caused. I cannot and that is a troubling reality for me. I will think about Miss Ruszczyk and her family forever. The only thing I can do is try to live my life in a good way going forward. Regardless of the sentence in this case I owe that to Miss Ruszczyk and her family.

The moment I pulled the trigger I felt fear. When I walked around, I saw Miss Ruszczyk dying on the ground, I felt horror. Seeing her there, I knew in an instant that I was wrong. The depth of my error has only increased from that moment on. Working to save her life and watching her slip away is a feeling I can’t explain. I can say it leave me sad, it leaves me numb, and a feeling of incredibly lonely. But none of that, none of those words, capture what it truly feels like.

It shouldn’t matter, but Miss Ruszczyk was a fine person. Her fiance and her family are also such fine people. And I feel worse because of them. These are the people I worked to serve, and I harmed them in the worst way possible. Again I apologize.

The Quran explains that with hardship if you’re steadfast and have patience, it will come ease. I have to endure the punishment from the court and the punishment from within myself. I shot because I was protecting my partner Matthew Harrity’s life. I realized after I was wrong. That mistake is my hardship to bear. The loss I created is hardship for others to bear. I can’t apologize enough and I will never be able to make up the loss that I caused to Miss Ruszczyk’s family.

Judge, I don’t want to lose my family. I don’t want to be absent from my son’s life. Regardless of what I want, regardless of what I fear, I have to accept that I caused this and I have to live with it for the rest of my life. Thank you.

Jon Devereaux was drunk when he crashed his friend’s SUV in West St. Paul during a 2013 alcohol-fueled joyride that took the life of a passenger.

Now he is linked to the mass South St. Paul overdose case from this past weekend.

Police found five men — some unresponsive and not breathing — last Saturday after arriving at Devereaux’s South St. Paul home he shares with his mother. A sixth man collapsed while rescue workers were there.

According to an application for a search warrant filed this week in Dakota County District Court, Devereaux, 27, was one of the six who overdosed after ingesting an opioid that could have been mixed with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that people have been adding to heroin, cocaine and other drugs.

In August 2014, Devereaux was sentenced to a year in jail and 10 years of probation after pleading guilty to a count of criminal vehicular homicide and six counts of criminal vehicular operation for the death of Robert Espinoza-Blaeser, 21, of West St. Paul. He was one of seven passengers.

According to the sentencing order, Devereaux could face up to 61 months in jail for violating terms of his probation, which include no drug or alcohol use.

SEARCHING PHONES FOR CLUES

In this week’s search warrant application, a Dakota County Drug Task Force investigator asked a judge for permission for the county’s electronic crimes task force to examine two phones found in the home. The judge granted the request.

The phones belong to Devereaux’s mother, Brenda Devereaux, and Marizio Romo-Garcia, who also overdosed, the court document said.

Brenda Devereaux told the agent that her phone was being used by her son, Jon Devereaux.

The investigator wrote in the search warrant application that he was attempting to “locate the source of the substance that cause (sic) an overdose in six males at one time” and that the phones could contain evidence about what it was and who supplied it.

The investigator also wrote that he spoke with Devereaux while he was still hospitalized at Regions Hospital in St. Paul and that he “stated he does not remember anything from the night of the incident.”

Reached this week, both Jon and Brenda Devereaux declined to comment about the overdoses. Romo-Garcia could not be reached for comment.

The mass overdose put a spotlight on a spate of overdoses across the state from laced drugs. The state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension notes in the past two weeks there have been 175 drug overdoses — 17 of them fatal — among the 89 Minnesota police agencies who take part of the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program.

SHOTS, THEN FATAL CRASH

On Nov. 14, 2013, Devereaux, then 22 and living in West St. Paul, was driving a friend’s Chevrolet Blazer when the SUV rolled over and ejected Espinoza-Blaeser.

According to the criminal charges, Devereaux and the seven passengers — males between the ages of 17 to 22 — had been drinking at a friend’s house before the crash. Passengers said they had downed several shots of liquor in a short time.

Sometime before 2:30 a.m., they left and Devereaux “demanded to drive the vehicle,” according to the charges. After swerving across the road at speeds up to 60 mph, the charges say, Devereaux ran a red light at Robert and Bernard streets. The vehicle rolled over and most of the passengers were thrown out.

Devereaux initially told police he didn’t remember driving — only going to McDonald’s, then being home. Later, he said he had lied because he was scared and admitted he was driving.

A blood sample obtained about 6:30 a.m. that morning showed Devereaux had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.12, above the 0.08 legal limit to drive.

Adrian Saffold is the kind of police officer that can make you feel grateful for getting a ticket.

Or so said one citizen who told the St. Paul Police Department they had been “written a ticket by the most professional officer I have ever encountered.”

Saffold, who was also named St. Paul Officer of the Year in April, was recognized Saturday for his dedication to his community by the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association at an awards ceremony in Alexandria. He was given an honorable mention for the association’s Police Officer of the Year award.

Virginia, Minn., officer Nick Grivna was also given an honorable mention and Minneapolis officer Michael Kirchen was named Police Officer of the Year.

In April, St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell told about a chaotic homicide scene in 2018 when a distraught man broke through the crime scene tape to get to the victim, his brother.

“Instead of showing frustration and anger, and the warrior mentality to stop somebody from entering the crime scene, he showed us all the guardian mentality of what it means to be a police officer,” Axtell said of Saffold. “He stepped up to the man and simply embraced him.”

His colleagues also noted that as a senior officer, Saffold could have his pick of shifts, but chooses to stay in St. Paul’s East Side working the 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift.

“His dedication to his street and patrol work, choosing to serve in the field where he feels he can make the most difference, is why he was recognized with the MPPOA Police Officer of the Year Honorable Mention Award this year,” the organization, largest association in the state representing rank-and-file officers, said in a press release.

Grivna received Honorable Mention for his heroic efforts in shooting and killing a suspect from 15 feet away who was holding a hostage at knifepoint.

Kirchen received the highest award for his community engagement. He co-founded the Bike Cops for Kids Program and has been instrumental in building positive relationships between Minneapolis children and the police department.

A woman was found shot in the middle of a Washington County road early Sunday morning.

Washington County sheriff’s office deputies received a report about 2:30 a.m. about a woman in the middle of the road near St. Croix Trail North and 124th Street North in May Township, according to a news release.

When deputies arrived, they found the woman had been shot. She was taken to a hospital.

Authorities did not release her condition or any further information Sunday afternoon. The shooting is under investigation.

A 41-year-old Minneapolis man is in critical condition after he was shot in the torso Sunday night in the parking lot of a Roseville strip mall.

Roseville police arrested 40-year-old Tametria Gillespie of St. Paul on suspicion of second-degree attempted murder, Roseville police spokeswoman Erika Scheider said.

The two were romantically involved at one point, she said.

Several witnesses called 911 when the man was shot around 10 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot on the northwest corner of Rice Street and Larpenteur Avenue.

Police located a gun at the scene.

No one else is thought to have been involved in the shooting, according to police, and there is no ongoing threat to public safety.

The Minnesota Commerce Department is warning seniors about an investment scam involving precious metals.

The California-based precious metals company Metals.com, which is not registered in Minnesota as a bullion dealer or investment advisor, is cold calling seniors across the U.S. trying to convince them their savings are not safe in traditional accounts, state officials said.

The state Commerce Department issued a cease and desist order May 16 against Metals.com to stop the firm from making bullion, precious metals and other investments in Minnesota. The company has been accused of using scare tactics and threats to manipulate seniors to move their savings into investments controlled by the company, according to an emergency order filed May 1 in Texas.

State Commerce Commissioner Steve Kelley warned seniors and other investors to resist fear tactics and calls to quickly move savings into investments they do not understand. Risk-free deals that sound too good to be true probably are, he said.

“Upon learning of the nationwide scheme, Commerce investigators acted quickly to issue a cease and desist order against the company,” Kelley said. “Nevertheless, Minnesotans must remain vigilant. These financial schemes exploit vulnerable seniors because they are friendly, trusting and more likely to have accessible funds.”

Minnesotans who fear they have been the victim of a scam or fraud should contact the commerce department’s Consumer Services Center at consumer.protection@state.mn.us or by phone at 651-539-1600 or 800-657-3602.

The Minneapolis man who sparked an Amber Alert on Friday reportedly told police he hid in his ex-girlfriend’s minivan because he wanted to spend the day with their two young daughters.

Jeffrey Lo, 24, was arrested in a wooded residential area in Cottage Grove around 10:30 a.m. Friday with the two girls, ages 1 and 3, in his arms.

Four hours earlier and three miles away, he allegedly kidnapped them from their mother, setting off a frantic search.

According to a criminal complaint filed Monday in Washington County District Court:

Lo startled his ex-girlfriend as she backed out of her parents’ driveway on her way to the children’s daycare around 6:30 a.m. Friday. He then entered the front of the van and struck the woman in the head with what he said was the clip from a handgun; the woman told police he’d struck her with a handgun, but police never found a gun.

Lo pushed the woman aside and began driving. When he stopped, the woman opened the door but Lo pulled her back in, letting her out of the van only after she began yelling out the window.

The woman sought help from another driver who tried to follow the van but couldn’t keep up.

The woman, who was bleeding from her cheek when police arrived, said she feared Lo would kill their children.

Police issued an Amber Alert, bringing officers from numerous agencies to search for the children. Following tips, authorities found the van empty in the 7300 block of Hyde Avenue South.

A helicopter helped police find Lo nearby, lying on his back and clutching the children to his chest.

Officers later searched the van and found the magazine from a 9 mm pistol loaded with 21 bullets.

PROTECTION ORDER

Lo and his ex-girlfriend separated two or three months ago after a five-year relationship. The woman sought a protection order against Lo in April, claiming he had assaulted and threatened to kill her.

A judge on May 7 approved a protection order that authorized Lo to visit the two girls starting Saturday. But the mother stopped communicating with Lo about the weekend visitation, he told police after his arrest.

He said he hid in her van because he wanted to spend time with his daughters Friday instead of letting their mother take them to daycare.

He said he carried the handgun magazine that morning to scare the woman and show how upset he was. He said he struck her with it because she slammed on the brakes, sending him into the front of the van.

Lo told police he knew what he did was wrong and that his emotions had taken over, according to the complaint.

Lo is charged with four felonies: one count of kidnapping for each child plus second-degree assault on their mother and violating a protection order.

A man’s body was found in the trunk of a vehicle in Eagan over the weekend.

Eagan police were called to a location near Diamond Drive and Diffley Road on Saturday after the dead body had been discovered.

Preliminary findings suggest the man was living in the vehicle and alcohol played a part in his death, according to an Eagan police Facebook post. After gathering evidence and conducting interviews, no foul play was evident.

Authorities assure the community there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident and there is no risk to public safety. However, the case is still under investigation.

Anyone with additional details regarding the case is encouraged to call the police station.

The cause of death and identity of the man have not be released.

A Henry Sibley High School math teacher and tennis coach is under investigation by Mendota Heights police for “suspicious activity.”

West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan Area schools received a complaint against Corey Prondzinski on May 14 and “immediately commenced an investigation,” the school district said in a statement to the Pioneer Press. He was put on paid administrative leave the next day.

Mendota Heights Police Chief Kelly McCarty said she could not comment on the allegations, which she described as “suspicious activity,” because the investigation is ongoing.

The school district declined to get into specifics of the complaint, citing the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. Under the data practices act, the district is required to release details on a complaint or investigation only if it results in disciplinary action.

According to the school district’s website, Prondzinski has been a math teacher and boys varsity tennis coach at Henry Sibley for 17 years.

Prondzinski did not immediately return a call Monday seeking comment.

May Township in northern Washington County isn’t known as a hotbed of criminal activity.

Big news in the rural community, pop. 2,898, is Marv Schroeder marking 62 years as the township’s road grader.

But when a 39-year-old woman was found shot in the middle of the road near St. Croix Trail North and 124th Street North about 2:30 a.m. Sunday — one week after a dead body was found in the township — officials and residents are getting concerned.

“We’re really trying to figure out how these people got out here, why they’re out here, and who’s responsible,” said Cmdr. Sara Halverson, of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office’s investigative division.

The woman who was shot remained hospitalized Monday, but investigators were not disclosing where she was located or how seriously she was injured.

“It does not appear to be random,” Halverson said. “We have someone whom we believe is a suspect. We’re waiting for her condition to improve before we talk to her. We just want to make sure she is safe.”

Someone driving by the area around 2:30 a.m. found the woman in the street and called 9-1-1, Halverson said.

On June 2, the body of Jose Natividad Genis Cuate, 47, of Minneapolis, was found in a wetland area about 10 miles northwest of where the woman’s body was found. Cuate died as a result of homicide, officials said.

No one has been arrested in either case, Halverson. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 651-439-9381.

Town Board Chairman Bill Voedisch said he hopes the crimes will be solved soon.

“We don’t usually have any major crimes. Nothing of this nature,” said Voedisch, who has been on the town board more than two decades. “Normally the police reports are pretty tame. I just think it’s coincidence.”

MAY TOWNSHIP

The largest food-truck event in the east metro is getting bigger and shifting locations.

The third-annual “Food Truck Extravaganza,” hosted by the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce is moving to the Washington County Fairgrounds in Baytown Township this year.

More than 35 food trucks are expected to converge at the site.

The event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, also will feature live music, children’s activities, bingo, beer and wine gardens, a marketplace and a pizza-eating contest. The Tim Sigler Band will play at 12:30 p.m.

The event will also feature a “Heroes Row” that will include representatives of the four branches of the U.S. military, the Minnesota National Guard and Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

Admission is $1; children younger than 3 get in free. Parking is free.

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to scholarship funds, specifically in the trades, for students in the Stillwater Area School District.

For more information, go to greaterstillwaterchamber.com.

A St. Paul woman accused of attempting to kill her boyfriend told police she acted in self-defense after he threatened her life, but video footage of the shooting tells another story, authorities say.

Tametria Shavondra Gillespie, 40, said she was driving with her boyfriend in Roseville about 10 p.m. Sunday when they started arguing about getting something to eat, according to a criminal complaint charging her with attempted murder filed Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court.

That’s when her boyfriend of 10 months started repeatedly striking her in the face and threatening to kill her, so she shot him, Gillespie told officers who showed up at Rice Street and Larpenteur Avenue after she called 911 to report the shooting.

Police arrived to find Gillespie’s boyfriend bleeding on the ground near a gray Honda Civic as Gillespie stood nearby with an injury to her lip. A black handgun was sitting on the trunk.

The man was taken by ambulance to Regions Hospital to be treated for gunshot wounds to his right arm and torso and remains in critical condition.

Video footage obtained of the incident tells more of the story, authorities say.

It shows Gillespie’s boyfriend walking on Larpenteur Avenue toward a driveway in the 1600 block of Rice Street as Gillespie’s Honda pulls into the driveway, stopping his path, the complaint said.

The footage then reportedly shows Gillespie get out of her vehicle and “strike or thrust” toward her boyfriend three times before he is seen falling to the ground.

Someone nearby told police he overheard a woman yelling, “Don’t put your hands on me,” before hearing a gunshot, according to the complaint.

Gillespie made her first appearance on the attempted second-degree murder charge on Tuesday afternoon. A judge set her bail at $500,000.

Gillespie has no prior criminal history in Minnesota.

Several people forced their way into a Columbia Heights home, robbed a couple and injured one of them, police said Tuesday as they asked for the public’s help.

Police responded to a report of a home invasion last Wednesday about 12:15 a.m. in the 4500 block of Madison Street Northeast. There were four to five suspects.

A male suspect, who was armed with a semi-automatic pistol, woke up an 87-year-old man and his 89-year-old wife, according to Anoka County sheriff’s Lt. Dan Douglas.

He and the other suspects demanded money, and someone hit the 87-year-old in the head with a pistol. The man needed medical attention, Douglas said.

The couple’s 58-year-old son was forced to leave his bedroom and go to another area of the home.

The suspects took a television, cellphone and wallet and left the home.

Minnesota Department of Transportation cameras captured a dark green sport utility vehicle leaving the area at high speeds shortly after the 911 call, according to Douglas.

Police ask anyone with information to contact Columbia Heights police or the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office at 763-427-1212.

A 69-year-old woman stood before a judge on Tuesday and told him it was out of her character to steal.

Things just got out of hand, Bonnie Harwell explained.

Harwell pleaded guilty in April to aiding and abetting theft by swindle for pocketing cash when she was working at the Roseville Bingo Hall as a longtime employee of the Roseville Area Youth Hockey Association.

Ramsey County District Judge Adam Yang sentenced her Tuesday to probation.

Two of Harwell’s colleagues, April Borash and Borash’s daughter, Lea Vogelsang, were also allegedly involved in the scheme.

“I just feel terrible … and I’m sorry that this happened,” said Harwell, who wiped away tears as she spoke with her husband seated behind her. “Me and my husband are good people. We are givers, not takers … things just got screwed up.”

Harwell and Vogelsang reportedly acted under the direction of Borash, who was their boss at the Bingo Hall, according to Harwell’s attorney, Daniel Guerrero.

All three woman were longtime employees of the youth hockey association. They were fired after they were charged.

Legal documents indicate both Harwell and Borash struggle with gambling addictions, and Harwell must undergo a gambling assessment and comply with any recommendations that stem from it as part of her sentence.

Yang also ordered Harwell to help pay $5,000 in restitution and complete 60 hours of community service.

Borash pleaded guilty to the charges facing her in the case last month and is expected to be ordered to pay between $10,000 and $15,000 in restitution and undergo treatment for gambling when she is sentenced next week

Her daughter, Vogelsang, pleaded not guilty to her charge in May, but court records indicate she agreed to enter a one year diversion program related to the case Tuesday afternoon.

Prosecutors charged the three women in January after one of their former colleagues expressed concerns about missing money to one of the hockey association’s board members, according to the criminal complaints.

They were accused of failing to record sales of coupon books sold at the bingo hall and pocketing the revenue instead, exploiting what is described in charging documents as a lax record-keeping system. The coupons could be purchased to reduce the cost to play pull-tabs at the bingo hall.

Judge Yang called the case “sad” on Tuesday.

“If you really think about the amount of money it’s not that much,” Yang told Harwell before sentencing her. “… But when you think about who you were taking from … it (was) the community … That’s what’s so sad about this case.”

Proceeds from the charitable gambling operation support the youth hockey association, as well as Midway Speedskating.

A Woodbury attorney is accused of stealing $15,000 from a man who hired her last year to defend him in a drug case.

Kristi McNeilly, 44, was charged last week with one count of theft by swindle, according to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court. McNeilly is scheduled to make her first appearance before a judge in the case on July 10.

Prosecutors said in the criminal complaint that they plan to seek an aggravated sentence in the case because McNeilly allegedly used her position of trust as her client’s attorney to steal from him.

McNeilly was hired in May 2018 to represent a 39-year-old Minnetonka man suspected of keeping illegal drugs in his home, which were discovered during a search by the Southwest Hennepin Drug Taskforce, according to the criminal complaint. Although he was a suspect, McNeilly’s client was not immediately charged with a crime.

In November 2018, McNeilly allegedly told her client that she had spoken with the lead investigator and prosecuting attorney in his case, and that it could be resolved if her client made a payment of between $35,000 and $50,000 to a police union.

McNeilly’s client was able to put together only $15,000, which he handed over to McNeilly, the criminal complaint said. Three days later, her client changed his mind and asked McNeilly for his money back, but McNeilly said she had already forwarded it to the police union as instructed, according to the complaint.

After McNeilly’s client hired a new lawyer, police discovered that McNeilly had never been in contact with the lead investigator or the prosecutor in his case, and that she spent a portion of her client’s money on mortgage and credit card payments, the complaint said.

McNeilly did not immediately return a voicemail message seeking comment Tuesday night.

DETROIT LAKES, Minn. — Authorities are asking for the public’s help in finding an 18-year-old man in connection with a fatal weekend shooting that occurred at a residence on the White Earth Indian Reservation.

Ronald Wayne Elias Thompson III has been identified as a suspect in the shooting of Jaime Lee Bevins Jr., 27, on early Sunday morning in Maple Grove Township, about 20 miles northeast of Detroit Lakes, according to a news release from the Becker County Sheriff’s Office.

Thompson currently has felony warrants for firearms and parole violations.

A witness said that Bevins was shot in the late hours of a graduation party at the residence after an argument had broken out.

Bevins’ body was sent to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.

Anyone with information regarding Thompson’s whereabouts is requested to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 218-847-2661.

Bevins had recently been arrested after a high-speed chase in Becker County on the afternoon of May 9.

MOORHEAD, Minn. — A judge in Clay County has ordered a man to serve nearly 39 years in prison for the death of a North Dakota man whose remains were found buried on the defendant’s Hitterdal farm.

Forty-year-old Jason Jensen earlier pleaded guilty to second-degree aiding and abetting murder in an agreement with prosecutors. Jensen was ordered Tuesday to serve 38 years and seven months in the death of Troy Yarbrough.

Jensen claims a co-defendant, 35-year-old Kayla Westcott, of Ada, killed Yarbrough in May 2018 in a shed on Jensen’s farm.

Jensen said he saw Wescott hit Yarbrough with a cinder block and a rake or broom and later with an ax.

Wescott faces the same charge and has been ordered to have a mental health exam. Her case is pending.