Minn. Dad and Youth Hockey Coach Is Killed in Driveway After Confronting Man Trying to Steal Wife's Car

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greybeard58
Posts: 2510
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 11:40 pm

Minn. Dad and Youth Hockey Coach Is Killed in Driveway After Confronting Man Trying to Steal Wife's Car

Post by greybeard58 » Tue May 09, 2023 11:17 am

Minn. Dad and Youth Hockey Coach Is Killed in Driveway After Confronting Man Trying to Steal Wife's Car

Michael Brasel's widow, who is a nurse, says she tried to resuscitate her husband after waking up to the sound of three gunshots

By Tristan Balagtas Published on May 8, 2023 02:11 PM


The killing of a beloved father and revered youth hockey coach in a quiet St. Paul, Minn., neighborhood has left his family and community reeling.

Citing police, WCCO-TV, KSTP-TV and the Star Tribune report Michael Brasel was shot dead in his driveway while confronting a man trying to steal his wife's car Saturday morning.

In a heartbreaking Facebook post, Brasel's widow, Hilary Brasel, who is a nurse, says she tried to resuscitate her husband after waking up to the sound of three gunshots.

"Ever the protector and good man he stood up for me with his last effort and breath," the post reads, in part.

"Never thought I would have to try to revive my husband with CPR while my boys are calling 911 and watched. Never thought we would have to ride in a squad car to help SPPD investigators find his killers," she wrote.

The post continued, "Never thought my children would need to be DNA swabbed to help eliminate DNA from my car to catch his killer. Never thought I would tell life source that yes Michael would help others with tissue and organs donation. Never thought that today was my last day to have him in my life."

The 44-year-old father of two "had the best sense of humor, giant love for his boys, and ever giving spirit to help out those around him," his widow wrote.

"He was one in a million and I have no idea how to do this life without him," she added.

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The Brasels' neighbor, Nancy Larkey, told KSTP it was "just plain heartbreaking for them [the boys] to lose their dad out of the clear blue. It never even occurred to me that somebody of ill repute — and I am putting it politely — would do such a dreadful thing."

A GoFundMe launched to help defray funeral costs described Brasel as a "devoted coach who inspired and encouraged countless young athletes to achieve their full potential."

The fundraiser has amassed over $100,000 as of Monday afternoon.

No arrests have been made.

https://people.com/crime/minnesota-fath ... -wife-car/

greybeard58
Posts: 2510
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 11:40 pm

Michael Brasel murder update

Post by greybeard58 » Fri May 12, 2023 8:22 pm

St. Paul teen charged in fatal shooting of man outside St. Anthony Park home

By MARA H. GOTTFRIED | mgottfried@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press
PUBLISHED: May 12, 2023 at 11:34 a.m. | UPDATED: May 12, 2023 at 6:45 p.m.
One of Michael Brasel’s sons was in his family’s St. Paul home when he heard his father yell outside, “What are you doing?” The sound of gunshots followed, according to murder charges filed Friday against a 17-year-old.

Brasel’s wife, who said the 44-year-old confronted someone trying to break into her car, rushed outside and found Michael Brasel shot in their front yard in the quiet St. Anthony Park neighborhood on Saturday morning. She is a registered nurse and she gave him CPR.

Michael Brasel
Michael Brasel, 44, was fatally shot in St. Paul on May 6, 2023. (Courtesy of the family)
Paramedics took Brasel to the hospital, where the father of two and youth hockey coach died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Police announced Wednesday that the department’s SWAT team carried out a search warrant about noon that day where the 17-year-old suspect lived in the 1600 block of East Reaney Avenue and arrested the teen. They got a break in the case from a car bumper that was left behind nearby and had a license plate on it.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Kle Swee, of St. Paul, with two counts of aiding and abetting second-degree murder — one charge says it was carried out with intent, not premediated, and the other says it was without intent while committing an aggravated robbery. He was charged in the past with robbery and burglary.

“This senseless act of gun violence tore apart a family as well as their community of neighbors and friends whose loss of a father, husband, friend, and coach will be felt for a lifetime,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a statement. “We are committed to addressing this youth’s actions with every appropriate measure available to us.”

Kle Swee is charged as a juvenile and the county attorney’s office filed a motion Friday to have him certified to stand trial as an adult. He remains in the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center.

Car apparently rummaged through
The juvenile petition against Kle Swee gives the following information:

Police received multiple reports last Saturday at 7:21 a.m. that a man had been shot in front of his home in the 2300 block of Chilcombe Avenue. One of the 911 callers was Brasel’s son, who said his dad had been shot and needed emergency medical attention.

Several callers reported hearing three shots and seeing a vehicle speed away, and they described the vehicle.

Officers found Hilary Brasel and a neighbor giving CPR to Michael Brasel. They saw a vehicle parked in front of the address, which was registered to Michael and Hilary Brasel, with the driver’s side door open.

Hilary Brasel later told police their vehicle appeared to have been rummaged through and items that should have been in the center console were on the driver’s seat. She said she couldn’t remember if the vehicle’s doors were locked.

She reported that her husband woke up early and may have been eating breakfast near the front window when he likely saw someone going through their car. She said she also heard gunshots and tires squealing away.

A neighbor from a nearby street found their vehicle had also been rummaged through before Brasel was shot, and several items were taken from the center console. A black vehicle reported by witnesses was also seen on nearby surveillance video.

Investigators found out that between 7:20 and 7:23 a.m. that day, about one-and-a-half miles from the crime scene, a person who was out for a run saw a black vehicle speeding at Fulham Street and Roselawn Avenue. The driver of the black car swerved onto a curb and sidewalk to avoid hitting another vehicle, and the bumper fell off.

The witness to the crash said there were at least two people in the black car.

Officers were called at the time and, based on the license plate on the bumper, determined the black car was registered to Kle Swee’s father in the 1600 block of Reaney Avenue in St. Paul.

Investigators also determined that officers had pulled over the same car in St. Paul on May 2 and in Savage on April 27, and Kle Swee was driving both times.
Police identified a phone number they later confirmed was Kle Swee’s and analysis placed the phone in the Chilcombe Avenue area when Brasel was shot.

When police went to search Kle Swee’s home, he ran from the back of the residence through the window, but police captured and arrested him. Officers found a Honda key in his pocket and the Honda parked in the residence’s garage. The vehicle was missing its front bumper.

Kle Swee didn’t make a statement to police.

Police continue to investigate and, asked Friday if they are looking for other suspects, spokeswoman Alyssa Arcand said “investigators are keeping all avenues open at this time.”

Past robbery
Klee Swee’s “criminal history is indicative of an individual who does not hesitate to invade the personal space of his victims,” Madelyn Adams, assistant Ramsey County attorney, said in court Friday, pointing out they were there because “he shot a father in his own front yard.” She said Klee Swee had shown “escalating violent behavior” that culminated in Brasel’s death.

In 2021, Klee Swee entered a garage attached to an occupied dwelling to steal a car, and was charged with burglary, Adams said. That case was in Albert Lea.

Court records show that Kle Swee was charged last April, when he was 16, with first-degree aggravated robbery in a bathroom at Harding High School, where he was a student at the time. He pointed a weapon — an officer noted it appeared in a video to be a firearm or replica firearm — at a 15-year-old and demanded his cell phone, according to a charging document.

Another student picked up a BB magazine that he said had fallen out of the gun after an altercation between the suspect and the victim over the gun.

Kle Swee pleaded guilty in August, after which a judge continued the case for six months and put the teen on supervised probation. He was ordered to follow all recommendations and directives of probation and complete 100 hours of community service.

In January, a judge discharged Kle Swee from probation on the recommendation of Ramsey County Community Corrections, with a court order saying he’d completed the requirements of the court and probation.

Adams and a probation representative asked Judge Sophia Vuelo during Friday’s hearing to keep Kle Swee in custody while the case is ongoing, and his mother said she agreed. Karla Valusek Strom, an attorney representing Kle Swee in court Friday, read what the attorney of record told her, which was, “We have no argument regarding custody.”

Vuelo said she found Klee Swee poses a public safety risk, that the charges allege callousness and “disregard for human life,” and he should remain in custody.

Remembering Coach Brasel
Michael Brasel, who grew up in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood before making it his home as an adult, had two sons with Hilary Brasel. They are in fifth and eighth grades. He worked as a residential carpenter.

He most recently coached for Roseville Area Youth Hockey, and Hilary Brasel responded on Facebook to a memorial post from the hockey association.

“Michael loved, Loved, LOVED coaching hockey,” she wrote. “He loved the bond that hockey families make over the 6-8 months of the year you play together here in Minnesota. He loved the time he spent with the kids making sure they all had their skates tied, their helmets were secured, and they knew that their individual efforts were what would make the team successful. His teams never left a locker room after a game with a goal to work on, or a moment of growth acknowledged.”
A candlelight vigil for Brasel is scheduled for tonight, starting at 7 p.m. at Langford Park in St. Paul. Streets around the park will be closed and people are asked to walk in.

A fundraising site for the family at gofundme.com/f/help-support-the-brasel-family had raised more than $210,000 as of Friday afternoon.
https://www.twincities.com/2023/05/12/m ... r-charges/

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