Disgruntled St. Paul apartment tenant executed 3 over parking garage contract dispute, charges say

A 30-year-old St. Paul, Minnesota, man is accused of executing three people inside a leasing office Monday over a parking garage contract dispute.

According to charges filed in Ramsey County, officers were called to the Davern Park Apartments on the 1500 block of St. Paul Avenue shortly after 4 p.m. after several people reported gunshots and screams. One caller said two people appeared to be critically wounded inside the apartment leasing office. 

When officers arrived, they found three victims fatally shot. The three victims were identified by the medical examiner Tuesday morning as 25-year-old Nansi Fuentes Zambrano of Inver Grove Heights, 56-year-old Dena Silcox of St. Paul and 43-year-old Adam Wilwerding of Oakdale.

Wilwerding and Silcox were found in the front area of the leasing office, and Zambrano was found in the back area.

Officers recovered 21 9mm bullet casings in the office, police said. 

A man called police to report that his roommate, Tsegaab Ademassu Binessu, had confessed to the shooting, police said.

In an interview with police, Binessu said he had recently sold his car because he was planning to join the military, according to police. He said he tried to get out of his garage parking contract, but the leasing office told him it can't be changed. Binessu admitted to then going to the leasing office, "but did not explain what happened there," the complaint said. 

Surveillance video shows Binessu speaking with Wilwerding before he pulled out a gun and shot him multiple times, police said. He then can be seen shooting Silcox multiple times, the complaint said. He then headed out of camera view, down a hallway, before more gunshots were heard.   

Police say Binessu was arrested later that night in Virginia, Minnesota — about 200 miles north of St. Paul — while driving Zambrano's vehicle. In the vehicle, he had what appeared to be newly purchased camping gear, his U.S. passport, Social Security card, an empty handgun magazine and a permit to carry a firearm, according to police. 

Binessu faces three felony counts of second-degree murder. 

"I can't believe it at all"

Neighbors say they're still coming to grips with the shocking loss of three lives. Traci Stevens says she knew the victims, all of whom worked at the complex.

"I can't believe it at all, and I probably won't understand," Stevens said. "I just hope they have the right individual, because if not we've still got a murderer out running around."

Stevens says she's never seen anything close to a crime like this in the seven years she's lived in the complex.

"It's sad, it's so sad," she said.

A neighbor who wanted to stay anonymous says people who live near the leasing office heard arguments, screaming and then several gunshots.

"I feel very sad last night. I didn't sleep the whole time. I was shocked. I feel sad because think about this, every family is our family," the neighbor said.