A former Minneapolis police officer has been sentenced to two years in prison for a fraud scheme.

Jordan Davis was sentenced Tuesday for his role in defrauding Community Action of Minneapolis, which was run by his father, Bill Davis.

Jordan Davis was convicted in June after a trial. Prosecutors alleged he received a manager’s salary to work at an ice cream store run by the nonprofit, but did no work. He’s accused of conspiring with his father to steal more than $140,000 in taxpayer funds.

Minnesota Public Radio reported that Jordan Davis’ attorney Fred Bruno argued for no prison time, saying he feared Davis would be abused because he was once a police officer.

Bill Davis still awaits sentencing.

Police are asking for the public’s help finding a 46-year-old White Bear Lake man last seen at his home on Jan. 20.

His family is concerned for the well-being of Jeffrey Eckblad because of his health issues.

Eckblad has no vehicle and is likely on foot or using public transportation. He is 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 230 pounds, with brown eyes and a shaved head. He was last seen wearing a white or tan parka, jeans and flip-flops.

Anyone who might have seen him or knows of his whereabouts is asked to contact White Bear Lake police at 651-429-8511 or dial 911.

SPOKANE, Wash. — A victim of sexual abuse by the leader of a religious sect in Minnesota spoke out Wednesday amid concerns that its members have relocated to the state of Washington.

Lindsay Tornambe, 30, and two of her attorneys held a news conference and urged any other possible victims to come forward.

In October, Victor Barnard, 55, longtime leader of the River Road Fellowship, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two teenage girls, including Tornambe, who were members of his sect in east-central Minnesota’s Pine County.

Tornambe has filed a lawsuit in Minnesota against leaders of the sect for failing to protect her when she lived as a young girl at the River Road Fellowship near Finlayson.

“Our concern is that children are at risk today because of this cult,” said Leander James of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, an attorney for Tornambe.

GET THE BACKGROUND: Minnesota cult leader called the girls ‘brides of Christ’ – and he was ‘Christ’

Barnard was the only sect member charged in Minnesota with sex crimes. Lawyers for Tornambe said they were not aware of any abuse occurring in Washington.

They did not know why members had moved to the Spokane and Bellingham areas.

The Associated Press generally does not name victims of sexual abuse, but Tornambe has said she wants her name used when she speaks out against the sect.

In 2012, two women, including Tornambe, came forward and told authorities that Barnard began assaulting them when they were as young as 12.

The women said they were among about 10 girls and young women chosen to live in a camp apart from their families as part of Barnard’s “Maidens Group.”

Barnard kept the girls secluded, using religious coercion and intimidation to maintain his control over them, authorities said.

“I cried myself to sleep a lot,” Tornambe said. “Everything was totally taken away from me.”

Barnard was a fugitive when he was charged in 2014 with 59 counts of criminal sexual conduct. He was arrested in Brazil in 2015 after an international manhunt.

James and fellow attorney Patrick Noaker said members of the sect, including Tornambe’s mother and sister, were living in Spokane and the suburbs of Liberty Lake and Cheney.

Margi Lessman drove to her daughter’s Eagan home Tuesday afternoon to take her to the doctor.

When she went inside the townhome, she saw her daughter — who was eight months pregnant — on her bedroom floor, naked and not breathing. Her neck was cut. A blood-soaked white cloth was stuffed in her mouth.

Senicha Marie Lessman, 25, and her unborn son were dead.

On Thursday, prosecutors charged the baby’s father, Vern Jason Mouelle, 23, of Brooklyn Park, with one count of second-degree murder with intent and one count of second-degree murder of an unborn child.

An autopsy by the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office showed that Lessman died of a severed carotid artery or an obstructed airway. The exact cause of death remains under investigation.

“This was a violent attack that has resulted in the senseless and tragic deaths of a young woman and her unborn child,” Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom said in a statement.

According to the charges:

Margi Lessman found her daughter at the townhome at 3141 Alden Pond Lane shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday. She pulled the bloody cloth from her daughter’s mouth, checked her pulse and called 911. Eagan police and paramedics tried to revive Senicha Lessman, but were unsuccessful.

Margi Lessman told officers that her daughter was 32 weeks pregnant and that Mouelle was the baby’s father. She said she last spoke to her daughter over the phone earlier in the day, sometime between 11:30 a.m. and noon.

Officers also spoke to a neighbor, who described a sport-utility vehicle that had been parked in the driveway, sometime between 1:20 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. Motor vehicle records showed that a Mazda Tribute matching the description of the one seen by the neighbor was registered to Mouelle’s mother.

Officers found Mouelle and the vehicle at Mouelle’s work, BioLife Plasma Services in Mounds View, and took him into custody.

Inside the vehicle, officers found a Walmart receipt dated Tuesday for a pocket knife and empty packaging for the knife, as well as Lessman’s cellphone, a bloody trash can and bloody women’s clothing.

A bloody pocket knife was found in a dresser drawer in Mouelle’s bedroom at his parents’ home.

At Mouelle’s first court appearance Thursday, bail was set at $2 million without conditions and $1.5 million with conditions. His next court appearance is set for Feb. 9.

Senicha Lessman was from Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, according to her Facebook page. She attended Burnsville High School, and worked at a Panda Express restaurant and an Old Navy clothing store.

A Facebook post from Jan. 5 shows Lessman smiling wide and holding an ultrasound photo of her unborn son in front of her belly.

“The Day He’s Born Will Be The Greatest Day,” she wrote.

On Wednesday, Margi Lessman released a statement through Eagan police, describing her daughter as a “loving, kind, smart and beautiful young woman who was very excited to be a mother.”

READ THE COMPLAINT

A Maplewood man who promised Hmong elders a new homeland in Southeast Asia was found guilty Thursday of defrauding people out of nearly $2 million.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger announced the conviction of Seng Xiong, 49, after a nearly two week trial in federal court in St. Paul. The jury delivered the verdict in about two hours.

Xiong was found guilty of one count each of mail fraud and wire fraud.

Telling his victims he was working with the White House and the United Nations, Xiong reportedly directed elders across the country to deposit $3,000 to $5,000 into a bank account under his name.

In exchange, he said, they would be guaranteed land, housing, school, jobs and social services in a new Hmong homeland he said was being established somewhere in Southeast Asia.

He also promised a financial return on the investment.

If that price point was too steep, Xiong offered a $20-a-month option that came with fewer benefits but still ensured the investor a spot in the new country.

If they didn’t act fast, they could be denied access to the country in the future, he claimed.

Investigators with the Minnesota Crimes Task Force and the St. Paul Police Department in 2015 discovered more than $1 million in Xiong’s Wells Fargo bank account tied to the scheme.

The ruse led scores of Hmong elders from across the country to send money. 

“Seng Xiong took the Hmong people’s tragic history of war and displacement and manipulated that for his own benefit,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Amber Brennan said. “We hope today’s verdict sends a message that the United States will protect those who have been defrauded. We’d especially like to thank the dedicated officers of the Saint Paul Police Department who serve the largest population of Hmong immigrants in the United States.”

Anyone who may be a victim of the crime is asked to contact the Minnesota Financial Crimes Task Force by sending an email to mspectf@usss.dhs.gov.

Xiong’s sentencing date has not yet been set.

Three people are charged with stealing about 75 firearms from a southeastern Minnesota gun shop in September and trying to sell them.

A federal indictment unsealed this week in the Millville theft charges 38-year-old Alex Boyd, 30-year-old Sasha Marie Erdner and 19-year-old Trinity James Wicka with conspiracy to possess and distribute stolen firearms and possession of stolen firearms. 

Boyd faces another count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

James Modzelewski, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the theft at the Millville Rod and Gun Shop was one of the largest gun shop burglaries in Minnesota in recent years. Many of the guns are still missing.

Erdner’s attorney didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment. Boyd and Wicka don’t have attorneys listed in court records.

A burglary at a Foot Locker store in West St. Paul netted thieves nearly $100,000 in merchandise, police said.

A burglar or burglars got into the store, in the Signal Hills Shopping Center on South Robert Street, in mid-January by knocking a hole in the wall of an adjoining vacant business, West St. Paul police Lt. Brian Sturgeon said.

They then spent several hours in a back room loading up shoes, clothing, hats and others goods totaling $97,000 into a vehicle or vehicles, Sturgeon said.

“When they went into the showroom floor, a motion sensor on the alarm system was tripped,” he said. “And they left after that.”

Police responded to the alarm call at 1:07 a.m. Jan. 16 and “everything was secure,” he said. “The key holder did not respond, so we weren’t able to go in at that time.”

Employees discovered the burglary after arriving for work.

Investigators are processing evidence and following up on leads, Sturgeon said. Store surveillance video was “as good as we would have liked,” he said.

Investigators are looking at the possibility the goods will be moved out of Minnesota and sold on the black market, Sturgeon said.

A St. Paul man accused of crashing his truck into a police squad car and injuring two officers this fall has been sentenced to six months in jail.

Daniel Sanchez Mendes pleaded guilty in December to one count of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

He was sentenced Friday in Ramsey County District Court to 180 days in jail for the crime, according to court records. He also received a stayed sentence of three years in prison. Mendes will serve that time only if he fails to follow the rules of his probation.

The 26-year-old was driving a red 2004 Nissan Titan pickup when he collided with a St. Paul police squad car at Seventh and Madison streets Oct. 10.

One of the officers involved estimated the truck was traveling “well above” the 35-mph speed limit at the time of the crash. He said he didn’t hear the truck honk or brake before impact and that he saw the driver run away afterward.

Police found seven empty beer cans and an empty beer bottle inside the pickup. One of the cans was cold to the touch and had liquid inside.

A man who knew Mendes told police he saw Mendes in the area after the crash and that Mendes appeared intoxicated. The man added that Mendes told him he had been involved in the accident.

Mendes was sentenced for a DWI in Hennepin County in 2013 and had his license revoked twice in 2008 for having an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more.

The two officers involved were in a Ford Explorer traveling on West Seventh Street when the crash occurred.

One officer suffered rib pain and the other a possible ruptured eardrum. Both were treated at Regions Hospital and released.

With Super Bowl 52 landing in Minneapolis in little more than a year, St. Paul Hotel general manager Brian Schmechel worries what potential visitors will think when they get to unflattering internet comments about St. Paul’s skyways.

Ron Anderson, a longtime resident of the Park Towers condominiums on Fifth Street, said his neighbor — an early riser — comes across at least half a dozen homeless people sleeping in the skyways between the Landmark Towers and the Alliance Bank Center each morning.

“My wife feels really uneasy,” Anderson said. “She’s put 911 on a button on her phone in case anything happens.”

Schmechel and Anderson were among more than 60 downtown residents and business owners gathered Friday with members of the St. Paul Skyway Governance Advisory Committee, which is part of the downtown CapitolRiver Council, to air concerns.

General manager of St. Paul Hotel says clients on TripAdvisor say they feel unsafe. Super Bowl is coming. Not good. pic.twitter.com/OkoD7sMOkD

— FredMelo, Reporter (@FrederickMelo) January 27, 2017

Besides the increase in transients, groups of teens hang out around the skyway elevator to the Green Line’s Central Station, leaving behind fast-food wrappers and obscene graffiti, according to residents and business owners.

And, after repeated complaints to the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections, the new owners of the building at 345 Cedar St. ripped out the skyway carpeting after it developed a smell of urine.

“The skyways have now become a public restroom,” said Patrick Connolly, a co-owner of the Connolly Kuhl public relations firm. “And we have misguided teenagers who think of their skyway as a personal playground.”

The meeting was attended by St. Paul City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, representatives of the Police and Safety and Inspections departments, as well as prominent downtown building owners such as John Rupp, Alliance Bank CEO Philip Reim and downtown property manager Julie Bauch of Bauch Enterprises.

A representative of the architecture firm TKDA said a suspicious character recently walked into their lobby in the UBS Building, rifled through a woman’s purse and made off with “a couple hundred dollars.”

A representative of Ecolab said her company books thousands of hotel rooms downtown, and more than one woman has reported getting mugged or harassed.

WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?

Several audience members on Friday said the mayor’s office needs to be more proactive on the issue of skyway safety.

“Is the mayor aware of these challenges?” asked Schmechel.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Chris Coleman’s office later said the mayor had not been invited to the meeting, but that efforts are moving forward on several fronts.

Police say that while calls surrounding youth misconduct are up, they have not documented a significant uptick in serious crimes such as assaults and violent robberies in the past few years.

Even so, “we’re increasing patrols in areas where large groups of people gather,” Steve Linders, a police spokesman, said in an interview. “We’re adding officers from our FORCE unit. We’re building partnerships with agencies, including Metro Transit. We’re using data. Many of our efforts will be visible, and some the public will probably not notice.”

Residents and business owners have diverged, however, over what should be done about the noticeable uptick in quality-of-life issues.

Building managers from sites such as Wells Fargo Place on Wabasha Street say that on nights and weekends, they’re locking more street-level doors in an effort to funnel visitors past security and through particular entrances and exits.

Residents of the City Walk condominiums and other senior housing say that solution has caused them problems. As they walk to Walgreens on Wabasha Street, doors lock behind them, leaving them out in the cold.

The street-level closures have made life especially difficult for disabled residents who need handicapped-accessible entrances.

“The Wells Fargo (door) has been locked as early as 3:30 p.m. on the weekends,” said Rick Cardenas, a longtime downtown resident and disabilities advocate who uses a wheelchair.

Noecker said she’s heard from plenty of constituents, and the anger comes through loud and clear.

So does the confusion.

Most of the skyway system runs through privately owned buildings, but the city maintains easements allowing public access.

There is no central authority that manages the skyway system, Noecker said, and building owners have established a patchwork of security policies that range from employing security guards or concierge-style greeters to doing virtually nothing at all.

“There’s just a crying need for someone to own this issue, for someone to take responsibility,” she said.

By city ordinance, most skyway bridges must remain accessible until 2 a.m., but that doesn’t mean street-level doors must remain unlocked, said Bauch, who manages a 13-story office building at 180 E. Fifth St.

“I can’t manage my building effectively with the level of homelessness and youth,” Bauch said. “For safety purposes, we have to manage our buildings as best we can.” 

HOPE ON HORIZON

The increase in the number of vacant buildings clustered around Cedar Street hasn’t helped. Advisory committee members said the planned redevelopment this year of the former Macy’s Department Store into the Wabasha Center retail hub can’t come fast enough.

Macy’s closure in 2013 has also severed an important skyway connection.

The 345 Cedar St. building, which previously housed the Pioneer Press, was purchased in 2015 by a South Dakota-based real estate developer, the Stencil Group, which had planned to convert the site into market-rate housing. Noecker said those plans appear to be on hold, but another developer may buy the building from Stencil to install affordable “workforce” apartments.

In October, Noecker announced on her Facebook page that she was dropping a proposal that would have tightened curfew restrictions for unaccompanied young people in the skyways.

Her decision came following a meeting with members of St. Paul Youth Services and other child advocates who said relations between police and minority youth were already tense.

On Friday, she said other efforts are still on the table. The city received grant funding to hire two street outreach workers who will connect the homeless to services such as the new Dorothy Day “Higher Ground” facility.

St. Paul’s Community Ambassadors program, which has a frequent presence near the Central Station, connects at-risk youth to services, as well. Developing the empty lot bordering the Central Station could also improve oversight, but assembling that land for sale requires ongoing discussion with the Metropolitan Council.

Within the skyway and on the ground, St. Paul police and Metro Transit police have both increased their presence near the light-rail station since its opening in 2014. That’s helped matters a bit, but it’s not much of a permanent solution.

Police are getting far more calls about unruly youth downtown than they were in 2014. But the number of serious crimes is about flat.

On average last year, police received nine calls a day that were categorized as “disorderly boys/girls,” a 48 percent increase from 2014. Quality-of-life calls, of which disorderly juveniles is a subset, have been steadily increasing downtown the last two years. There were 5,545 such calls in 2016, up by more than 1,000 since 2014.

Mara H. Gottfried and Josh Verges contributed to this report.

Outspoken Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke is the keynote speaker at a Saturday event in Minneapolis honoring law enforcement, firefighters and members of the military who have died on the job. 

RightWay MN says it’s expecting as many as 300 people paying between $35 and $500 at the Mansion at Uptown.

Sheriff since 2002, Clarke is a registered Democrat but a fiercely conservative commentator known for his signature cowboy hat. He spoke at the Republican National Convention in July and has met with President Donald Trump about a possible cabinet appointment.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — A bomb threat prompted officials to evacuate the Grand Forks International Airport early Saturday morning.

Grand Forks officers responded at 5:14 a.m. to the airport after a traveler told a ticket agent there was a bomb in his bag, according to a news release. The suspect, who was taken into custody there without incident, was identified as Paraman Radhakishan, 53.

Operations were suspended while the Grand Forks Regional Bomb Squad “evaluated the validity of the threat.” Officers did not find a bomb or threatening devices and the airport is now operating as normal.

Radhakishan faces terrorizing charges and was booked at the Grand Forks Correctional Center. 

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — An Eau Claire police officer has fatally shot a man during a confrontation outside a hotel. 

The Eau Claire Police Department got a 911 call Saturday morning about a man with a gun in the parking lot of Scottish Inns & Suites. The caller said the man was pointing the gun at passing vehicles and people.

Police say the first officer who arrived found the 49-year-old man in the parking lot and, after a confrontation, shot him. Officers tried to revive him, but he died at the scene.

No officers or anyone else was hurt. The names of the 19-year veteran officer and the suspect were not released.

The officer is on standard administrative assignment. The La Crosse Police Department is investigating the shooting at the request of Eau Claire police.

A St. Paul man who was reportedly part of a burglary ring that targets marijuana dealers pleaded guilty this month to killing a Maplewood father during a robbery gone wrong.

Brandon Lamar Cooper, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree unintentional murder during a hearing in Ramsey County District Court Jan. 10, according to court records.

His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

He was charged in November 2015 with two counts of second-degree unintentional murder and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm in the death of Justin Niles Wright. Wright, 31, was found dead on his living room floor shortly before 5 a.m. Nov. 7 after his girlfriend called 911 to report a shooting.

Two others were also charged in the incident: Bradley James Cook, 36, and Ernest Donald Atchison Jr., 33.

Cook pleaded guilty in July to first-degree burglary after reaching a deal with prosecutors.

He previously faced charges of aiding-and-abetting murder for his role in the shooting. The less egregious conviction came in exchange for Cook’s commitment to testify against his accomplices in the crime.

During his plea hearing, he said Cooper had admitted to shooting Wright after Wright unexpectedly confronted him while the men were attempting to burglarize his home.

The three devised the burglary plan after Atchison told them about 50 pounds of marijuana allegedly being held inside the house, Cook said. 

According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, Wright’s girlfriend told officers she and Wright had been asleep when she awoke to a strange voice just outside the bedroom saying, “Tell me where it’s at.”

Wright also was in the hallway, she said, and she saw him lunge toward a dark figure. Then she heard a single gunshot and saw Wright stagger through the house, eventually collapsing in the living room.

Wright’s two children were away at a sleepover at the time. His girlfriend was not injured.

The woman admitted to police that she and Wright sold marijuana from the house at 2272 Hazel St. and some of her customers knew they kept “significant amounts of marijuana” there, the complaint said.

Police found signs of forced entry in the garage and a 9mm shell casing in the bedroom hallway. Later that day they found a Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun two blocks away. DNA from the handgun reportedly matched DNA on file for Cooper.

Police also tracked Cooper’s cellphone to the area. 

An informant told police that Cooper was part of a burglary ring that targeted known marijuana dealers.

More than a month after the fatal shooting, investigators got a warrant to put a GPS tracker on Cooper’s vehicle and tracked it to Minneapolis. There they saw Cooper and an accomplice burglarize a home on the 4700 block of Park Avenue, according to the complaint. The investigators followed the vehicle back to St. Paul, where they took Cooper into custody.

Wright bled to death after the bullet struck his left carotid artery, according to the Ramsey County medical examiner.

Cooper has previous felony convictions for theft, robbery and assault.

All three men are expected to be sentenced in the coming months.

Police responding to a call about a man injured in an alley Sunday afternoon also found a dead body in a nearby garage.

About 4:30 p.m., police received a 911 call about a man bleeding in the alley in the 3700 block of Aldrich Avenue North. Officers who arrived found a man with a non-life threatening leg injury in the alley, but also found the body of a man inside a nearby garage with a “significant injury to his head.”

The death is being investigated as a homicide. Police are questioning the man with the leg injury in connection with the death. Further information was not available Sunday night.

Officers from the Fourth Precinct responded to the 3700 block of Aldrich Avenue North on an assist EMS call at approximately 4:30 p.m. A 911 caller had reported a male heavily bleeding in the alley.

Police ask anyone with information to text their tip in to 847411 (TIP411).  Enter MPD, a space, and then the information.  These text messages are assigned a tip number and the police department has no way of identifying the source of the information.  All texts are anonymous.  Persons may also call the MPD TIP Line at 612-692-TIPS (8477).

A shooting in St. Paul’s Dayton’s Bluff left one man dead and another injured Sunday night.

Officers were called to the St. Paul Saloon on Hudson Road near Earl Street about 11:30 p.m. on a report  of shots fired and two people injured. Police found two men outside the bar with apparent gunshot wounds.

Paramedics took the men to Regions Hospital, where one was pronounced dead. The other was still being treated for his injuries, police said Monday.

Homicide investigators are working to determine what led to the shooting, but it’s not believed to have been random, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman. No one was under arrest as of Monday and police released no suspect information.

Police are trying to determine where the men were before the shooting, Ernster said. Officers have not been called to the St. Paul Saloon for any major incidents in the past six months, he said.

The Ramsey County medical examiner’s office will confirm the homicide victim’s identity. His death is the second homicide of the year in St. Paul.

The bar is required to have security cameras inside and outside and to provide recordings to police if they’re requested, according to the liquor license conditions. The video requirements were initially put in place because of previous problems at the bar, according to St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections spokesman Robert Humphrey.

The city also requires the bar to have security staff working from 9:30 p.m. until close each night.

Ernster said he didn’t know whether the shooting was captured on video, but he said investigators have been “looking at any opportunity to gather information in relation to this incident.”

The St. Paul Saloon has been under new ownership since August, according to DSI.

Police reports show a series of incidents around the bar under previous ownership.

Last January, police were called to Cypress Street and Hudson Road on a report of a man who was assaulted by about 60 Hells Outcasts members at a bar near the intersection, a police report said.

Officers could not find the victim, but “walked in on a very heated argument between a male behind the (St. Paul Saloon) and approximately 15-20 people in Hells Outcasts” colors, the report said.

In February, police took a report of someone being stabbed in the leg outside the St. Paul Saloon.

In April, DSI told the bar to cease operations immediately after the previous owner relinquished his liquor license to the city, Humphrey said.

The bar re-opened last year with Alex Rivero as the owner, a move that the Dayton’s Bluff Community Council previously expressed support for in a letter to DSI. Rivero could not be reached for comment Monday.

Council Member Jane Prince, who represents the area, held her annual fundraiser at the St. Paul Saloon in November.

“More than a fundraiser, this event is a celebration of a business owner who is turning a local establishment around on St. Paul’s East Side,” said the event description on the Jane Prince for St. Paul’s Ward 7 Facebook page. “Alex grew up in Dayton’s Bluff and ‘grew up on parks and rec.’ Beyond making the St. Paul Saloon a great gathering spot, he wants to support and grow neighborhood recreation opportunities for kids.”

A homeowner in southern Minnesota was charged Monday with second-degree manslaughter after he allegedly shot and killed one of three teenagers who had been “casing” his home for a burglary, according a criminal complaint.

The complaint also charged David Allen Pettersen, 64, of Madelia, with a felony charge of dangerous discharge of a firearm in the incident that started at about 7 a.m. Saturday.

The complaint accused Pettersen of negligently firing a .45 caliber handgun three times from about 10 feet away from Nicolas Thomas Embertson, 19, while Embertson was fleeing Pettersen’s home in a car with two other young men, Kyle Thomas Nason, 18, and Cornelius Ayers Jr., 18.

Embertson, of Madelia, was struck by one of the shots and died later at the hospital, according to police.

According to the complaint, Nason later told police that he, Embertson and Ayers went to Pettersen’s house on the 32500 block of 850th Avenue in rural Mdelia to “case” it for a future burglary. The complaint said the three checked the doors at the house, but all were locked. Embertson and Ayers then boosted Nason up onto the deck, where he was confronted by Pettersen, the complaint said.

Nason fell about 10 feet and broke his ankle, according to the complaint. Pettersen said from his kitchen window he saw Nason crawling away toward a car parked near a detached garage, the complaint said. Pettersen said he went into his bedroom and got a .45 caliber handgun and left the house, the complaint said.

Nason said he, Ayers and Embertson got into their car and as Embertson was driving them away, they heard two loud bangs, the complaint said.

Embertson said, “I think I’ve been hit,” and he lost consciousness and drove off the driveway, the complaint said.  Prosecutors said Embertson was shot once in the pelvis.

Pettersen said he saw the car drive by in front of him and when he was about 10 feet away, he fired his gun two or three times, the complaint said. Pettersen said he was trying to shoot the front tire on the driver’s side, the complaint said.

Pettersen said he went into his house and called 911, the complaint said. While he was on the phone, he saw that the car had veered off his driveway and remained there for eight or nine minutes, the complaint said.

After Emberston lost consciousness, Nason said he jumped into the driver’s seat and drove out of the driveway.

The Watonwan County sheriff’s department said it got a call at 7:10 a.m. Saturday about a possible burglary and shooting at a residence. Pettersen reported to dispatchers that he had fired his gun at a grey vehicle that was leaving his property after an attempted burlgary, the complaint said.

Sgt. Barry Gulden of the Watonwan County sheriff’s office found the car about two miles north of Pettersen’s house, parked on the shoulder of the road, the complaint said. Inside were Nason with a broken ankle, Ayers, who was uninjured, and Embertson, who was unconscious. Embertson would later be pronounced dead at the hospital.

No charges have been filed against Nason, of Sleepy Eye, Minn., and Ayers, of Madelia, but the case is still under investigation, according to Watonwan County Attorney Stephen Lindee.

“They were certainly in the wrong to begin with,” Lindee said.

But once the three began to flee from Pettersen’s home, “they were leaving, presenting no more risk to him,” Lindee said. That made it negligent for Pettersen to shoot a gun at them, Lindee said.

Pettersen was released from jail Monday under a set of conditions including surrendering his firearms.

A woman who answered a phone at Pettersen’s home and identified herself as his daughter said that an attorney told them they could not comment.

Madelia is about 20 miles west of Mankato.

QUEBEC CITY (AP) — The 27-year-old suspect in a terrorist attack against Muslims at a Quebec City mosque was charged Monday with six counts of first degree murder and five counts of attempted murder.

Alexandre Bissonnette was known for taking right-wing, nationalist positions and supporting the French far-right party of Marine Le Pen. The shooting during evening prayers Sunday left six people dead in an attack that Canada’s prime minister called an act of terrorism against Muslims.

Bissonnette has Le Pen and U.S. President Donald Trump as likes on his Facebook profile, and François Deschamps, an official with a refugee advocacy group, said he was known for his far-right views. “It’s with pain and anger that we learn the identity of terrorist Alexandre Bissonnette, unfortunately known to many activists in Quebec for taking nationalist, pro-Le Pen and anti-feminist positions at Laval University and on social media,” he wrote on the Facebook page of the group, Bienvenues aux Refugiés, or Welcome to Refugees.

More than 50 people were at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre when the shooting erupted. In addition to the six who died, five were in critical condition and 12 others suffered minor injuries, University of Quebec Hospital Centre spokeswoman Genevieve Dupuis said Monday. The dead ranged in age from 39 to 60.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard both characterized the attack as a terrorist act, which came amid heightened tensions worldwide over Trump’s travel ban on seven Muslim countries.

Trudeau said in Parliament the victims were targeted simply because of their religion and spoke directly to the more than 1 million Muslims who live in Canada, saying, “We are with you.”

“Thirty-six million hearts are breaking with yours,” Trudeau said. “Know that we value you.”

The suspect was arrested in his car on a bridge near d’Orleans, where he called 911 to say he wanted to cooperate with police. Authorities, who initially named two suspects, said the other man taken into custody was a witness to the attack and was released earlier Monday. They said they did not believe there were other suspects but were investigating.

Police did not give a motive for the attack.

Trump called Trudeau to express condolences to the Canadian people and to offer any assistance that might be needed.

The White House pointed to the attack as an example of why Trump’s policies were needed. “We condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. It’s a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant and why the president is taking steps to be pro-active, rather than reactive when it comes to our nation’s safety and security,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

The victims were businessmen, a university professor and others who had gathered for evening prayers, said Mohamed Labidi, the vice president of the mosque.

“‘It’s a very, very big tragedy for us,” Labidi said tearfully. “We have a sadness we cannot express.”

He said the victims were shot in the back. “Security at our mosque was our major, major concern,” he said. “But we were caught off guard.”

The shooting took place just before 8 p.m. Sunday. Witnesses described chaos as worshippers scrambled to find friends and loved ones, as police responding to the scene called for backup.

Canada is generally welcoming toward immigrants and all religions, but the French-speaking province of Quebec has had a long-simmering debate about race and religious accommodation. The previous separatist government of the province called for a ban on ostentatious religious symbols, such as the hijab, in public institutions.

Couillard said he would “not go there” when asked if he blamed recent rhetoric in in the U.S. for the attack.

“Quebec is a good, generally loving society, but we have these devils as other societies have. We have to recognize that and fight them,” Couillard said at a news conference in Quebec City at which he and Muslim leaders held hands in a display of solidarity.

“The Muslim community was the target of this murderous attack,” Couillard said, adding that solidarity rallies would be held across Quebec later Monday.

The mosque has been a target of hate crimes in the past, including last summer when pig’s head was left on its doorstep during Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. Practicing Muslims do not eat pork.

Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume, appearing shaken, said: “No person should have to pay with their life, for their race, their color, their sexual orientation or their religious beliefs.”

Worshipper Ali Hamadi said he left the mosque a few minutes before the shooting and a friend, Abdelkrim Hassen, was killed. He said Hassen, who worked in information technology for the government, had three daughters and a wife, whom he had to notify of the death.

Majdi Dridi of the Muslim Association of Canada said he knew two of the victims. One was a work colleague who was a father of three little girls, he said.

“I don’t know what to say, I just hope that his family and his children can have the patience to accept what happened,” Dridi said

Trudeau had earlier reacted to Trump’s visa ban for people from some Muslim-majority countries by tweeting Saturday: “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada.”

Trudeau also posted a picture of himself greeting a Syrian child at Toronto’s airport in late 2015. Trudeau oversaw the arrival of more than 39,000 Syrian refugees soon after he was elected.

The mayor of Gatineau, Quebec, near Canada’s capital of Ottawa, said there would be an increased police presence at mosques around his city following the attack. The New York Police Department also said it was stepping up patrols at mosques and other houses of worship.

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Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press writer Sean Farrell in Montreal contributed to this report.

Four people were shot early Monday morning near a gas station in Crystal.

Crystal police reported that three men and one juvenile were taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds, and three suspects were in custody.

The incident occurred at 1:11 a.m. on County Road 81 near Wilshire Boulevard and Corvalis Avenue. Police were initially directed to the Holiday gas station near the intersection of County Road 81 and Wilshire Boulevard, according to a dispatch audio posted on the Minnesota Police Clips website.

Three of the victims were treated and released from a hospital and one was still being treated Monday morning, according to police. A police news release said there was no further risk to the public.

The Minnesota State Patrol reported two pedestrians were struck and killed by vehicles Sunday night in separate incidents.

A Dodge Ram heading west on Minnesota 13 struck and killed a man as he was running south across traffic near Washburn Avenue in Burnsville at 9:19 p.m., according to the State Patrol.

The pedestrian was identified as Juan Morales-Castro, 45, of Burnsville. The driver of the truck was Shawn Jacob Notermann, 35, of Shakopee.

At 11:20 p.m., the driver of a Buick Century traveling east on County Road 8 in Wheeler Township in Lake of the Woods County saw a pedestrian kneeling in the roadway, tried to swerve, but still hit the man, killing him, according to the state patrol.

The identity of the pedestrian, a 39-year-old man from Baudette, has not yet been released. The driver was Jon Bryan Haney, 36, of Rochester. The case is still under investigation.

The state patrol reported no alcohol was suspected in the drivers in both incidents.

Dakota County Sheriff Tim Leslie said Monday that it was a coincidence that a bullet went through a window at his Mendota Heights home early Saturday.

Leslie said his home near Minnesota 13 and Sylandale Road was not targeted, and that no one was injured.

“This is a whole different Monday if I’m targeted and my family is in danger,” he said. “My family was still in danger a little bit, but it was a random shot up in the air and it hit my house. It could have been anyone’s house down the block.”

Leslie said the state Bureau or Criminal Apprehension analyzed the bullet’s trajectory and determined that it had been fired into the air and “traveled and tumbled” through his 17-year-old daughter’s window.

Leslie said his daughter was awakened about 4 a.m. by a loud noise and thought maybe a picture fell off her wall. She went back to sleep, but told him about the noise around 8:45 a.m.

Leslie said that’s when he went into her room and found the bullet, which had careened off a wall before landing on his daughter’s bedroom floor. At that point, Leslie said, he thought maybe someone could have targeted his house.

“I thought, ‘Oh, man,’ and immediately called the BCA and Mendota Heights police,” Leslie said.

“Being an elected official — the sheriff — I take a stand on certain things and people may not agree with me,” he added. “And the environment of some of the public toward law enforcement is not positive.”

Several hours later, investigators learned that homeowners two blocks north of Leslie reported hearing four or five gunshots the same time his daughter was awakened. No other homes were hit, and investigators could not pinpoint exactly where the shooting happened, he said.

“Nobody near my house heard gunshots,” Leslie said.

The case is being categorized as a negligent discharge of a firearm, he said.

“It’s very odd, and I don’t know it what it all means,” he said. “It means that we’re not always in charge. … Things can happen to people. Again, this is a something that could have happened to anybody.”