A man is in police custody in St. Paul, Minnesota, accused of shooting and killing three at an apartment complex’s leasing office.
The St. Paul Police Department said on social media that it found victims Nansi Fuentes Zambrano, 25; Adam Wilwerding, 43; and Dena Silcox, 56, dead Monday after responding to reports of gunshots.
Suspect Tsegaab Binessu, 30, was arrested by the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office later that day in Virginia, Minnesota, and deputies brought him to St. Paul, the police said.
On Tuesday, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Mr. Binessu with three counts of intentional, nonpremeditated murder, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Mr. Binessu went to the leasing office Monday after failing over the phone to get out of a $65-a-month contract for his apartment parking spot that had recently been renewed, according to a criminal complaint cited by the Twin Cities’ KSTP-TV.
Police confirmed that Mr. Binessu sold his car just prior to the incident and that he fled the scene in Ms. Fuentes Zambrano’s vehicle, according to Minneapolis’ KMSP-TV.
Surveillance video showed Mr. Binessu taking a handgun out of his waistband and shooting Mr. Wilwerding, the building’s community manager, followed by Ms. Silcox, the assistant manager, before disappearing, authorities said.
Ms. Fuentes Zambrano, the leasing agent, was found dead in a back part of the office, possibly trying to escape through a window, according to the complaint as cited by the Pioneer Press.
Angie French, president of the Mid Continent Management Corp., which manages the apartment building, said in a statement that “our hearts are broken for the family and friends of these team members, and our prayers are with them,” according to Minnesota’s KARE.
In an interview with police after his arrest, Mr. Binessu said he hated the American system, that seven years of failed attempts to bring his wife and kids over from Ethiopia led to his divorce, that he believed he was discriminated against for his race and immigration status, and that apartment management blamed things on “the system” multiple times, according to KSTP.
