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A Minnesota teenager was arrested for the murder of a beloved youth hockey coach who was shot and killed earlier this month in St. Paul after cellphone information linked the teenager to the crime.
Authorities charged the unidentified 17-year-old with second-degree homicide for allegedly taking pictures Michael Brasel, who police say stumbled upon a burglary-in-progress seconds earlier than his dying.
Brasel, a 44-year-old father of two, walked out his door at about 7:20 a.m. on May 6 to see the younger man rummaging via the household automobile, CBS News reported.
Brasel’s son – who was in the home on the time – advised police he heard Brasel yell, “What are you doing?”
Then he heard gunshots.
When police arrived, they discovered Brasel with a number of bullet wounds, CBS stated. He died at Hennepin County Medical Center.
Witnesses stated they noticed a black automobile with tinted home windows and a loud exhaust flee to the west.
The automobile hit a curb a couple of mile-and-a-half away, knocking the entrance bumper off, police stated.
Cops used the bumper – and the license plate – to hyperlink the automobile to a pair of earlier visitors stops, CBS stated.
The boy was driving the automobile each instances. So investigators bought a search warrant for his cellphone, pulled the placement information and located that it positioned him on Brasel’s avenue on the time of the taking pictures.
The teenager was arrested final Wednesday in St. Paul after a quick try and run from the cops.
Prosecutors are asking the court docket to certify him as an grownup, CBS stated. His first court docket look is Monday afternoon.
The teen isn’t any stranger to the within of a courtroom – he was arrested for an April 2022 theft through which he introduced a gun to Harding High School in St. Paul, held it to a different pupil’s head and demanded his cellphone.
Two bystanders recorded the crime and posted it on Snapchat.
Prosecutors charged the boy with aggravated theft, and he was on probation till January 2023, CBS stated.
Todd Axtell, a former St. Paul police chief, advised CBS that youngsters must be held accountable for his or her crimes.
“It’s not a ‘lock ’em up and throw away the important thing’ mentality, however we’d like penalties. Enough is sufficient,” he stated. “No extra one-of-two or three choices if an individual is concerned in a felony stage crime of violence with a gun. We have to act instantly. Take that younger particular person off the road, put them right into a safe atmosphere, be certain they get the assets they want.”
Axtell additionally advised CBS that the “stage of violence with our younger folks continues to develop exponentially.”
“The stage of firearms utilized by younger folks continues to develop,” he stated. “It’s a significant concern.”
