Star Tribune
2nd teen charged in deadly shooting of St. Paul man who tried to stop break-in of wife’s vehicle
A second teen has been charged in the deadly shooting of a St. Paul man who attempted to stop someone from rifling through his wife’s vehicle in front of the family’s home.
Ta Mla, 18, of St. Paul, was charged Thursday in Ramsey County District Court with aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder in connection with the May 6 shooting of Michael Brasel, 44, in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood.
Mla remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bail and is due back in court on July 12. A message was left Friday with his attorney seeking a response to the allegations.
His co-defendant, 17-year-old Kle Swee, of St. Paul, was arrested May 10 and charged on May 12 with second-degree intentional and unintentional murder. Prosecutors have said they intend to have Swee, who remains in custody, charged as an adult.
Family members said Brasel was trying to prevent his wife’s SUV from being broken into before the father of two and youth hockey coach allegedly was shot by Swee multiple times.
The charges against Mla say he was the one who was going through the vehicle when Michael Brasel grabbed him from behind and Swee, acting as a lookout, responded with gunfire.
” ‘My bad, bro,’ ” Mla told police was Swee’s response immediately afterward, the charges read. ” ‘I didn’t mean to.’ “
Investigators put Mla, who has a criminal history involving guns as a juvenile, at the scene by testing for DNA on a small camouflage bag recovered by police from the SUV’s front seat. Mla’s DNA was found on the bag, the charges read. He was found and arrested on Tuesday in St. Paul.
According to the criminal complaints:
Brasel’s wife, Hilary Brasel, said he saw someone rummaging through her car. Brasel’s son told investigators he heard his dad yell, ”What are you doing?” before gunshots rang out. The boy looked outside and saw a male get in a vehicle and speed away.
Hilary Brasel went to her wounded husband and started chest compressions and called for help as onlookers phoned 911. Brasel’s wife said someone apparently had rifled through the car and placed items from the center console on the driver’s seat.
Investigators reviewed neighbors’ camera footage and saw the suspected vehicle leaving the crime scene. Officers pieced together a call to Lauderdale police earlier that day about a similar vehicle there that lost its bumper while swerving to avoid a stopped car. Officers recovered the bumper with a Minnesota license plate that was registered to a 2009 Honda coupe.
Swee was arrested with a Honda key in his pocket and declined to speak to law enforcement. Officers found the Honda in Swee’s garage with no front bumper.
A 20-year-old St. Paul man is now facing three murder charges in separate killings in Minneapolis in recent years.
Albert Jerome Lucas was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court in connection with the killing of 20-year-old Antonio Vernon Harper, of Minneapolis, on Nov. 6, 2023, in Minneapolis in the 3300 block of Dupont Avenue N.
Lucas, who has been jailed since May and remains held in lieu of $2 million bail, is scheduled to appear in court early Thursday afternoon. He does not yet have an attorney listed in court records for this latest charge.
According to Wednesday’s criminal complaint, which charges Lucas with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder:
Officers arrived to the scene and saw Harper on the ground suffering from a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
A witness told police that she saw three males “hugging” the side of home and looking toward Harper and two of his friends. Gunfire from Lucas erupted, hitting Harper, and the suspects fled in a car. One of Harper’s friends shared with officers that the shooting was gang-related.
Officers saw the vehicle two days later and determined it had been stolen in St. Paul. The driver fled police, but officers soon found the vehicle. DNA on a cigar wrapper inside the vehicle was tested and came back as a match for Lucas.
Star Tribune
Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza killed 15
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike on a school sheltering the displaced in northern Gaza on Thursday killed at least 15 people, including five children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said the strike targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had gathered at the Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza where Israel has been waging a major air and ground operation for more than a week.
Fares Abu Hamza, head of the ministry’s emergency unit in northern Gaza, confirmed the toll and said dozens of people were wounded. He said the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was struggling to treat the casualties.
“Many women and children are in critical condition,” he said.
The Israeli military said it targeted a command center run by both militant groups inside the school. It provided a list of around a dozen names of people it identified as militants who were present when the strike was called in. It was not immediately possible to verify the names.
Israel has repeatedly struck tent camps and schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza. The Israeli military says it carries out precise strikes on militants and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its strikes often kill women and children.
Hamas-led militants triggered the war when they stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. Some 100 captives are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says women and children make up a little more than half of the fatalities.
Twin Amur tigers born at Como Zoo in August now have names — Marisa and Maks.
Two long-time volunteers who have worked with zookeepers to care for and teach the public about the zoo’s big cats came up with the names, the first to be born at the St. Paul zoo in more than 40 years.
Marisa, a name that the volunteers found to mean “spirited and tenacious,” call that a perfect reflection of her personality. The name also carries special significance for the Como Zoo community, as it honors a retired zookeeper of the same name who was instrumental in the care of large cats during her 43 years at the zoo, Como Zoo and Conservatory Director Michelle Furrer said.
The male cub has been named Maks, which is associated with meanings like “the greatest” or “strength and leadership.” The volunteers felt this was an apt description of the male cub’s confident demeanor and growing sense of leadership, Furrer said.
“Marisa and Maks aren’t just names; they’re a fun reminder of the passion and care that keep us committed to protecting wildlife every day,” Furrer said.
The newborns and their first-time mother, 7-year-old Bernadette, remain off view to allow for more bonding time, zoo officials said. The cubs’ father, 11-year-old Tsar, has been a Como resident since February 2019 and remains on view.
Fewer than 500 Amur tigers — also known as Siberian tigers — remain in the wild as they face critical threats from habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict, the zoo said.
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