21-year-old man accused of murdering man at Burnsville Park
A 21-year-old from Burnsville, Minnesota faces charges in connection to the May death of a 59-year-old man in a city park.
According to the criminal complaint, police received a 911 call on the morning of May 3 from the victim's mother, who said her son, David Chant, was unconscious and unresponsive at Interlachen Park. Near Chant's body, police found two broken and bent walking sticks.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner determined Chant's cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Chant's mother told officers that he would sometimes stay over at her home, and would take morning walks either in her driveway or at the park. While searching the area, police found a pair of shoes in a porta potty with blood on them, documents say.
Later that morning, police responded to a separate 911 call from a mother who said her son was missing. The criminal complaint said police were familiar with the missing 21-year-old man; they had been called to his mother's home in March, and documents say he had assaulted one of the officers.
In the body camera video of the incident, police could see the 21-year-old was wearing the same shoes that were found in the porta potty, documents say.
Police reviewed surveillance video from the night of May 3 and saw the 21-year-old walking into stores nearby Interlachen Park around 1:30 a.m. In one of the videos, which was pointed towards a parking lot, two distinct voices could be heard arguing. At one point a voice says "Hey. Give me my cane back," charges say.
Officers heard several thumping sounds on the video, according to the complaint. A few minutes later, a man dressed in the same clothes as the 21-year-old walked across the parking lot.
The man was arrested and charged for a separate offense. According to the charges, he told someone in a recorded jail cell that he had knocked out a person at the park the weekend before he was arrested.
He faces a second-degree murder charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years, if he is convicted.