DAKOTA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- A judge has closed a hearing to determine if a Minnesota teenager charged in the slayings of two Iowa convenience store clerks should be tried as a juvenile.

Michael Swanson, of St. Louis Park, Minn., is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree robbery for the Nov. 15 shooting deaths of 47-year-old Vicky Bowman-Hall and 61-year-old Sheila Myers.

The Fort Dodge Messenger says District Court Judge Thomas Bice ruled Wednesday to close the Feb. 1 hearing in Humbodlt County, where the 17-year-old Swanson is accused of shooting Myers during a robbery at a store in Humboldt.

A hearing has not been scheduled in Kossuth County, where Swanson is charged in the death of Bowmall-Hall, who was shot during a robbery at a store in Algona.

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