Star Tribune
Suspects targeted, executed Iowa man in St. Paul parking lot
An Iowa man visiting St. Paul was “targeted and executed” following a night out with friends earlier this week, according to murder charges filed against his alleged killer.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged 22-year-old Kueth Chuol Ngut with two counts of second-degree murder. His appeared in court Friday and is scheduled to reappear on Oct. 24. Judge Kelly Olmstead set bail at $3 million.
On Friday the St. Paul Police Department identified the victim as Lul Dak Chak, 32, of Ames, Iowa, who bowled with friends sometime before being gunned down. According to charging documents, Ngut and another suspect planned to kill Chak.
Just past midnight on Sept. 17, a caller reported hearing gunshots and someone lying on the ground the parking lot of an apartment building at 1222 University Avenue West. Police found Chak there with multiple gunshot wounds to his torso, neck and face. He was unconscious and not breathing. A cell phone, broken necklace and 19 bullet casings were nearby.
Medics pronounced him dead at the scene, and an autopsy by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner confirmed that Chak died from nine gunshot wounds.
Chak’s cousin witnessed the shooting, telling police that they were smoking outside the apartment complex after returning from a birthday party. Chak told her he was buying narcotics. Moments later, a man exited a Subaru parked in the lot and began shooting at them. The cousin dropped to the ground and said that Chak leaped in front to protect her.
A friend who also witnessed the shooting said the three were outside for a smoke when a person wearing all black got out of the front passenger seat of a vehicle and shot at them. They also claimed that the car was in the lot with its headlights off before shots rang.
Investigators reviewed surveillance footage which showed the Subaru driving in the area 20 minutes before the shooting, moving to different spots in the parking lot. When Chak walked outside, two peopled got out of the car and shot at him. He fell to the ground.
The Minneapolis school board on Tuesday night appointed Lucie Skjefte, chair of the district’s American Indian Parent Advisory Committee, to fill the vacant District 3 board seat in the city’s center.
Her selection ultimately came down to chance.
Skjefte emerged from earlier ranked-choice voting in a tie with Fatimah Hussein, and the two then deadlocked, 4 to 4, in a live board vote before a coin was flipped in Skjefte’s favor.
They were among four finalists to succeed Faheema Feerayarre, who resigned in September, too late for the seat to be placed on the November ballot.
The move throws two new members into the mix as the school board works to erase an anticipated budget deficit and dig into a “transformation process” that could include closing and merging schools.
Greta Callahan, a former president of the teachers chapter of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, won election last week to the District 6 seat.
During an appearance before board members last Thursday, Skjefte, who is a Red Lake tribal member, spoke of her work as an Indigenous graphics designer and as director of operations for the Mni Sota Fund, a community development group that seeks to empower Native people.
She said she’d aim to “reach out and create spaces for every voice, especially for those from historically marginalized communities.”
Star Tribune
What to know about Forest Lake’s Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to serve as defense secretary
In picking Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense, President-elect Donald Trump has selected a military veteran and popular conservative media personality with a large following of his own.
Hegseth, 44, has developed a close rapport with Trump, who also reportedly considered him for a post in his first administration. Hegseth has lobbied Trump to release service members accused of war crimes.
Here are a few things to know about Hegseth.
He’s a Fox News personality and author
Co-host of Fox News Channel’s ”Fox & Friends Weekend,” Hegseth has been a contributor to the network for a decade. He developed a friendship with Trump through the president-elect’s regular appearances on the show. In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson complimented Hegseth’s military knowledge, saying his ”insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers.”
He’s also written a number of books, several for the network’s publishing imprint, including ”The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.” In announcing Hegseth’s nomination, Trump complimented that book, noting its ”nine weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE.”
Hegseth has served in the military, although he lacks senior military or national security experience.
Election offices in more than half of Minnesota’s counties have been targeted with emailed bomb threats since Nov. 8, the office of the Secretary of State said Tuesday.
The threats come as election workers are still in the process of verifying the results of the 2024 election.
In a statement, Secretary of State Steve Simon said his office is coordinating with local, state and federal partners to “ensure that our election officials can complete this important work and that those responsible for these threats are held accountable.”
“Threats of violence against election workers, aimed at disrupting our democracy, are absolutely unacceptable,” he said.
Turnout was high in Minnesota in 2024, but it was lower compared to the 2020 presidential election.
Unofficial 2024 results show about 76% of registered voters cast a ballot, down from the record-breaking 79.96% turnout in 2020, the office of the Secretary of State said last week.
The unofficial results, however, are higher than the 74.72% turnout recorded in 2016.
