Columbia Heights man accused of shooting woman in the neck on Fridley roadway
A 38-year-old Columbia Heights, Minnesota, man is accused of shooting a woman in the neck on a roadway in the northern Twin Cities metro over the weekend.
The man, who faces one count of first-degree assault and one dangerous weapons charge in Anoka County, was arrested along with his wife on Monday. The couple lived next door to the victim's friend, the complaint says.
Charging documents say that the woman was leaving a prom send-off party at her friend's house around 9 p.m. on Saturday. Video surveillance from a business across the street shows that after the woman put her 5-year-old child in the backseat, she started to back up her car and appeared to make contact with the car parked behind her.
According to the complaint, she drove away, and the couple got into the car that was hit and sped away. The victim told police that the couple pulled up beside her and started yelling at her.
She said she pulled over on the side of University Avenue and the couple got out of the car and became aggressive towards her, the complaint says.
She then drove away, and the couple followed her. She said she heard a shot and lost control of her car and her body, according to the charges.
The complaint says the victim's car came to a stop near 53rd Avenue Northeast and University Avenue Northeast in Fridley. She was taken to the hospital and has a spinal cord injury. The girl who was in the car at the time was not injured.
In a post-Miranda interview, the wife told police that her husband was in the driver's seat of the car, the complaint says. While she was fastening her seatbelt, she said she heard a loud bang and realized that her husband had shot the woman's vehicle. She told police that he put the gun in the driver's side door.
The man made his first court appearance on Wednesday morning.