Dressed in jeans and an “Animal House” T-shirt, Scott Klund fist-bumped Charlotte Rawls as he walked past her into a downtown St. Paul convenience store after bar closing early on May 7.
The former Marine had been at the Bulldog bar in the Lowertown area and wanted to grab a snack before heading home to his nearby apartment. Inside the SuperAmerica, the 30-year-old grabbed two bags of chips. He’s captured on surveillance video standing near Ray Gruer as he pays for the chips. Gruer is at the cashier next to him, making his own purchase.
Then the two walk out the door.
Gruer, 31, is seen on camera greeting Rawls, 52, outside the SuperAmerica, where she had been waiting for him. The homeless pair exchange words with Klund. Seconds later, after their initial meeting at the store, the three walk off together.
Within the hour, Klund allegedly shot and killed Rawls with a military-style rifle in the living room of his apartment. Klund also allegedly sliced Gruer’s throat with a knife and fired several rounds at the man as he barricaded himself in the apartment’s bathroom, according to the criminal complaint filed against Klund in May.
The complaint alleges that he laughed while talking to a 911 dispatcher after the shooting and smiled and winked at a police officer as he was being escorted to a squad car.
In opening statements in Klund’s murder trial that began Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court, prosecutor Thomas Ring used words like “carnage” and “savagery” to describe the events that unfolded in the ex-Marine’s apartment.
“At a very basic level … this case is about the strong against the weak. … Military tactics appropriate only in the theater of war being (used against civilians),” Ring said.
Ring never revealed a motive for the shooting. He described the gunfire as starting abruptly after the three got to the Parkside Apartments at 250 E. Fifth St. The first shot was fired at Gruer as he exited the bathroom, he said. Then the apartment turned into a war zone.
Klund’s defense team said the former Marine’s combat training kicked in when he was faced with a threat. Although he did his best to de-escalate the situation, Rawls and Gruer refused to retreat, forcing Klund to act in self-defense and shoot, said his attorney, Aaron Haddorff.
Haddorff said Rawls and Gruer were on methamphetamine and saw an opportunity to score money when they saw Klund walk into the SuperAmerica.
They tried to sell him a speaker, he said, and invited themselves back to his apartment.
That’s when things “started getting weird,” Haddorff said.
Rawls went into Klund’s lofted bedroom and started rifling through his belongings, Haddorff said, eventually prompting Klund to ask them to leave.
Suddenly, Gruer appeared in the hallway between Klund and the apartment door, holding a knife and Klund’s wallet, Haddorff said.
“The fear that kicked in took him back to his military career training,” Haddorff said.
When Gruer refused to drop the knife, Klund began firing warning shots, Haddorff said. Then Gruer threw something at Klund and retreated inside the bathroom, so Klund turned his fire on him.
Soon after, Haddorff said, Rawls appeared from the bedroom and started moving toward the living room. Not knowing if she was going for a weapon, Klund began shooting at her when she refused his commands to halt, Haddorff said.
“(Klund) … was in fear and he was protecting his body and his property in his own home … when he fired on those two people,” Haddorff said. He added that Klund had a right to do so.
The state called several witnesses, nearly all them St. Paul police officers.
Officers described responding after Klund called 911 to report that a man was critically injured in his apartment and “bleeding everywhere.”
When they arrived, the officers testified, they could hear a man screaming in pain inside the unit. They discovered Gruer bleeding on the bathroom floor from what appeared to be a knife wound to his neck and multiple gunshot wounds.
Klund was lying on the hallway floor, partially propped up an arm. He reportedly laughed when one of the officers asked him if he had been shot.
Bullet holes had perforated the bathroom door and bullet casings were all over the floor, the officers said. Some bullets penetrated the walls and entered neighboring apartments.
A black military assault-style rifle was found in the lofted bedroom on top of Klund’s bed.
Rawls was lying face-down on the living room floor. One of the officers described her as “cold to the touch.” The mother of two and grandmother of nine was pronounced dead at the scene. Gruer was taken to Regions Hospital to be treated for his injuries. He survived.
Although it wasn’t mentioned Wednesday, the criminal complaint said Gruer later told police that Klund had invited him and Rawls back to his apartment for a drink that night. Gruer said he was exiting the bathroom when he was suddenly shot in the arm. When he looked up, he saw Klund standing in the bedroom loft with a black rifle.
Gruer barricaded himself in the bathroom as shots rang out. Eventually, the gunfire was aimed at him through the bathroom door, he said.
Klund reached the rank of corporal while serving with the Marine Corps from May 2007 to May 2011. He was deployed three times, once to Afghanistan, once to the Philippines and once to Thailand.
He had previously been a student at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul.
Testimony in the trial will continue Thursday.