Star Tribune
Man shot while crawling away at Brooklyn Park baby-welcoming gathering
A man was shot three times, the final round hitting him as he crawled away from the gunman, during a large family baby-welcoming celebration in a Brooklyn Park backyard, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.
Lue Chang, 32, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree intentional murder in connection with the shooting Saturday of Nichanon Kittikroekphon‚ 34, of Coon Rapids, at Chang’s home in the 8400 block of N. Adair Avenue.
Chang was detained by numerous celebrants at the scene until police arrived and arrested him, the complaint read. He remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a court hearing on Wednesday. Court records do not yet list an attorney for him.
According to the complaint and a related court document:
Police responding to a report of gunfire arrived shortly after 6:30 p.m. and saw numerous people in and around the outside of the home. Kittikroekphon was down in the backyard suffering from gunshots to his abdomen and back. Emergency medical responders took him to North Memorial Health Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The officers saw Chang being held down by a man, recovered a gun and arrested Chang.
Another man told police that he and his wife were there with others to celebrate the birth of children in the family. He said about 30 people remained at the home after a ceremony for food and drinks.
The man said he heard gunfire, turned and saw Chang shoot Kittikroekphon in the back. The man and others immediately detained and disarmed Chang.
Star Tribune
Gilbert woman charged with murder after man ODs; she then wrote about it in a private Facebook message
A Gilbert, Minn., woman has been charged with third-degree murder after she allegedly gave drugs to a 25-year-old Mountain Iron man who died later from the effects of fentanyl and ethanol last summer.
Ashley Rose Cook, 20, whom investigators had been unable to find, was arrested earlier this week and arraigned in St. Louis County court in Hibbing on Tuesday. Her bail has been set at $500,000 and her next court appearance is Thursday. She is in the St. Louis County jail.
According to the criminal complaint, Cook wrote about her role in the man’s death in a private Facebook message sent on July 31.
“I gave [the victim a] perc 30 and he died,” she said. “Perc” is another name for oxycodone, according to DEA.gov.
Investigators also found a Facebook exchange between Cook and the victim indicating that she was looking for people who wanted to buy opioids.
A witness said that she and the victim met with Cook at a gas station in Gilbert. He got out of the car to talk to Cook, while the witness went to the bathroom to look for a phone she had left there earlier. The witness, her brother and the victim went home, where they planned to have a bonfire. The latter went to the bathroom but didn’t return. He was found dead alongside a piece of aluminum foil with burnt residue. An autopsy determined that he had died from the toxic effects of fentanyl and ethanol.
According to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department, Cook’s arrest is the result of a nearly nine-month investigation by the Lake Superior Violent Offenders Task Force to “hold those accountable who profit off the deadly sale of controlled substances, particularly fentanyl.”
Star Tribune
Hours after being sentenced to five years in prison, Minneapolis drug dealer released from jail
A Minneapolis man with a lengthy criminal history sentenced to more than five years in prison for drug and weapons convictions last week walked out of the Hennepin County Jail hours later after he was released on an apparent clerical error.
He has been out ever since.
Court documents show that Hennepin County District Judge Marta Chou sentenced Timothy Wayne Wilson, 60, on Thursday, Dec. 12 after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of second-degree drug possession and illegal possession of a firearm. He was ordered to report to the department of corrections at 10:30 a.m. that morning.
While there are no official court documents, a Hennepin County jail document shows that approximately 90 minutes later Chou ordered Wilson’s release. The jail processed that request and Wilson was released Thursday evening. How it happened remains murky.
A statement from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, which operates the county jail, said they followed Fourth Judicial District policy in releasing Wilson. The policy dictates that the county jail will use an electronic court tab application “to determine if a defendant is to remain in custody or to be released.”
The Sheriff’s Office also said it cannot access the electronic court tab and the judicial order is transmitted via court staff to the jail.
The Star Tribune obtained a copy of the “Hennepin County Jail Court Tab Report.” Under a column labeled “judicial order” it shows Chou ordered Wilson’s release.
A statement from the Hennepin County District Court said, “Judge Chou confirms that she sentenced the defendant to 68 months in prison, that she expected execution of the sentence to occur immediately, and that she did not order the defendant’s release.” They said an investigation into how the order was issued and Wilson was released is ongoing.
The stopgap measure is needed because Congress has failed to pass its annual appropriations bills to fund all the various agencies in the federal government, from the Pentagon and national security apparats, to the health, welfare, transportation and other routine domestic services. When the fiscal year ended on Sept. 30, Congress simply punted the problem by passing a temporary funding bill that expires Friday.
But the inches-thick bill goes beyond routine funding and tacks on several other measures that lawmakers are trying to push through to passage before the end of this congressional session, especially as some elected officials will not be returning in the new year.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., a called it essentially a junk sandwich, using a swear word. The chairman of the Freedom Caucus, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., said a lot of lawmakers “are a little disappointed at how this last week has worked out.”
And then there’s the pay-raise.
Some lawmakers expressed concern that the bill turns off a pay freeze provision that was included in the previous short-term spending measure. That change could allow a maximum pay adjustment of 3.8% or $6,600 in 2025, bringing their annual pay to $180,600, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
Members of Congress last got a raise in 2009, when the salary was increased 2.8% to $174,000 annually. If member pay had not been frozen since 2009, salaries would be about $217,900.
