Police Questioning Person Of Interest In Arden Hills Gas Station Shooting

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Authorities are questioning a person of interest in connection with the shooting that left one person dead at a gas station in Arden Hills Monday morning.

The call for help came in around 8:40 a.m. at the Holiday Gas Station off Highway 96 and Round Lake Road. When authorities arrived, they found a man dead near the station's gas pumps.

The victim has now been identified by friends as Kelly Phillips.

Chief Deputy John Kirkwood with the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office said the shooter took off in a dark-colored BMW with Minnesota license plate 004-EYY.

"Obviously, we have eyes and ears on the road with our law-enforcement partners, but anything the public can help with, if they happen to see this vehicle, call 911," Kirkwood said.

Authorities said Phillips and the shooter pulled into the gas station near the gas pumps. Both men got out of the vehicle and had some sort of disagreement. That's when the driver fired at least three shots hitting Phillips.

Josh Polis was parked in front of the BMW and saw the shooting happen.

"Black BMW pulled up behind me, a couple of guys screaming. I thought they were screaming at me for being in their way," Polis said, a witness, said.

Polis said the two guys appeared to be arguing. Then things escalated.

"When the guy in the backseat saw the pistol, he turned around and the driver shot him in the back and the victim fell to the ground. The guy just stepped over the top of him and fired a couple more times -- once right in the head. He got back in the BMW. He sat there for 20 or 30 seconds, for some reason, I can't figure out why. But then he drove off and drove over the guy's body," Polis, a witness, said.

Frank Antencio, another witness to the shooting, said it was brutal.

"The guy went right over the top of him and shot him in the back of the head, literally in broad daylight. Right in the back of the head. He got in the car and it looked like he was struggling to get the car in gear or whatever, backed up, then ran over the guy's legs as he was leaving and took off on 96," Antencio said.

Kirkwood said Phillips died before he arrived to the hospital.

Police are still searching for the shooter, but believe this is an isolated incident.

"We believe it's an isolated incident and unfortunately bad things happen in places that you least expect them," Sgt. John Eastham, from the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office, said.

The shooter is described by police as a white man about 180 pounds in his 30s or 40s. He was wearing tan shirt and blue jeans.

Someone who works near Phillips home took a video of a person being put in handcuffs. The person was later identified by the witness as Phillips' boyfriend.

Authorities haven't said if the person of interest will be arrested, who the person or how the victim and suspect knew each other.