Tyanna Jabree Graham stood in a Ramsey County courtroom this week and admitted to unintentionally killing a 5-month-old boy she was babysitting last winter.

The 19-year-old St. Paul woman pleaded guilty Monday to one count of second-degree murder in the death of Jamir P. Dunagan.

The infant was found unresponsive Jan. 28 inside a home on the 2200 block of West Seventh Street by police officers called to the residence on a report that a child wasn’t breathing.

The boy was taken by ambulance to Children’s Hospital, where doctors discovered he had suffered a severe brain injury. He died the next day.

The Ramsey County medical examiner’s office determined that his death was caused by injuries inflicted from a physical assault. In addition to bleeding in his brain, the infant had bruises and bleeding on his left lung and a cut on his lip.

When interviewed by police, Graham gave conflicting accounts of his injuries, court documents say.

She eventually admitted to being frustrated that she had to care for the child when she wanted to go out and might have “blacked out” and shaken him for 3 to 5 seconds while she was in that state, the complaint says.

The young woman has no criminal record in Minnesota.

She cried as she made her first court appearance on the charges last winter.

Graham’s sister said at the time that Graham struggles with mental health issues.

She reportedly knew Jamir’s family through a friend.

Graham is expected to be sentenced in November.

Her attorney, public defender Edith Brown, did not immediately respond to a call for comment.

RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO HELP STRESSED CAREGIVERS

Overwhelmed caregivers in need of help can reach out to the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery at 763-591-0100.

The organization offers parents and guardians 24-hour crisis counseling via its hotline, in-person counseling at its facility, up to three days of respite care for children as their guardians regroup, as well as at-home visits to help parents and guardians overcome barriers to care for children.

The latter resources are available only to residents of Hennepin County but staff at the center can help connect outside residents with other resources.

The hotline is available to anyone.

Guardians in need can also call the state’s Crisis Connection for help at 612-379-6363.

A St. Paul man is accused of biting a 3-year-old’s face after getting into a fight with the child’s mother, authorities say.

Scottie Dale Heckel, 20, was charged via warrant Wednesday with one count of third-degree assault, according to the criminal complaint filed against him in Ramsey County District Court.

The incident was brought to the attention of police by the young girl’s aunt after her daughter noticed bruises on her cousin’s cheek.

The aunt who reported the injury is the sister of the child’s father, who has full custody of the 3-year-old but sometimes lets her stay with her mother.

The girl was at her mother’s home in the 900 block of Geranium Avenue in St. Paul in June when her mother got into an argument with her boyfriend, the woman told police.

She put her daughter down for the night on a couch and went to bed while her boyfriend reportedly stayed up talking to another woman, authorities say.

When the child’s mother woke the next morning, she discovered bite marks on her daughter’s cheek, the complaint said.

Her daughter told her that her boyfriend bit her during the night.

The woman told officers she confronted Heckel about the assault and kicked him out of the apartment, the complaint said.

She said Heckel called her crying several times after it happened, begging for help and saying he was struggling with mental problems, the complaint said.

Police discovered two sets of teeth marks on the 3-year-old’s cheek along with a bruise. A specialist at the Midwest Children’s Resource Center said the wounds were consistent with adult bite marks, authorities say.

When questioned by police, Heckel denied assaulting the child.

His criminal history includes convictions for domestic assault and fifth-degree assault. He has no felonies on his record.

No attorney is listed for Heckel in court records.

A Rosemount couple was sentenced to years in prison Tuesday for using their positions at the now-closed Hmong American Credit Union to steal millions of dollars from the St. Paul member-owned financial cooperative.

The sentences were handed down in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis after Nkajlo Vangh, 61, and his wife, True Yang Vang, 52, pleaded guilty to operating the years-long fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis.

Nkajlo Vangh was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison for his conduct. True Vangh was sentenced to six years in prison.

Nkajlo Vangh was president and chairman of the board of directors for the credit union while the fraud operation was underway. True Vangh was the manager.

The couple stole more than $2 million in credit union funds by issuing fraudulent loans from the credit union and transferring the money to accounts they controlled, court documents say.

In some instances, the couple submitted sham loan applications using fake names and fictitious income and employment information to the Hmong American Credit Union. They would then approve the loans.

The case was investigated by the FBI.

The St. Paul NAACP and others are expressing outrage over a now-former St. Catherine University security guard who allegedly falsely claimed a black man had shot him.

Brent Patrick Ahlers, 25, later told police he accidentally shot himself.

On Thursday, St. Kate’s President Becky Roloff said Ahlers’ statements about the race of the “suspect” are “deeply troubling and do not reflect our values.” The school fired Ahlers, officials said Thursday evening.

Ahlers called 911 on Tuesday night to report he was shot by a suspicious person he confronted in a wooded area on the campus of St. Catherine University along Cleveland Avenue.

Ahlers, of St. Louis Park, reported the shooter was a black male with “a short Afro,” according to police scanner traffic posted by MN Police Clips.

However, St. Paul police did not publicly release a suspect description because, a spokesman said, “as the facts of this case were being discovered, we did not have confidence in the description.”

Dianne Binns, president of the St. Paul NAACP, said that Ahlers blaming a black man for the shooting was “nothing new.”

“It’s been happening for decades to African-American men in America,” Binns said. “St. Kate’s said they’re sorry, but they should come out and have more remorse and responsibility. That was their employee.”

Binns said that when she first heard of the false accusation “it made me angry, then sad. … I thought we had come a long way in seven decades but I guess that’s not the case.”

African-American community leaders are planning a press conference about the matter for Friday afternoon.

Ahlers’ 9:30 p.m. report set off an extensive manhunt that lasted until midnight and included 55 officers, four dogs and a Minnesota State Patrol aircraft. About 1,800 students were on lockdown at the university.

Ahlers was treated Tuesday night at Regions Hospital. He told investigators during questioning on Wednesday that he accidentally shot himself with his handgun and lied about it because he feared losing his job, according to St. Paul police.

He was released on his own recognizance about 4:30 a.m. Thursday, according to a staff member at the jail.

Ahlers has hired an attorney. A message left with the attorney was not returned Thursday.

Roloff said in Thursday’s statement that St. Catherine University “strongly condemns racial discrimination, racial stereotyping, and racial profiling of any kind.”

Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.

A St. Paul woman woke up Wednesday night to a stranger crawling around her bedroom floor.

He was carrying one of her jewelry boxes, she later told police, so she yelled at him to leave and hurried out of bed to call 911.

That’s when Dequan Lesalle Bellazan hurled the box at her and threatened to throw her down the stairs, according to the criminal complaint filed against the 20-year-old St. Paul man Friday in Ramsey County District Court.

The incident took place around 10 p.m. Wednesday at the 76-year-old woman’s home on the 1200 block of Englewood Avenue in St. Paul, legal documents say.

Police arrived to find her bleeding from her left-hand with a towel wrapped around it.

They later located and arrested Bellazan based on the description provided by the victim.

He faces one count of first-degree burglary.

In an interview with officers, Bellazan reportedly admitted to breaking into the home and said he did so because he didn’t think anyone was home at the time. When he encountered the woman, he said he panicked and shoved her, legal documents say. 

The convicted felon has a history of burglaries.

He was placed on 10 years of probation in June after being convicted of a separate first-degree burglary incident. He was convicted of second-degree burglary three times in 2016.

No attorney was listed for Bellazan in court files.

More than two and a half years after the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed for bankruptcy following a torrent of sexual abuse claims made against its clergy, the legal costs are mounting into the tens of millions.

Details on the compensation earned to date by law firms representing parties involved in the bankruptcy proceedings were revealed Friday after the federal judge overseeing the case ordered the disclosures.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel requested financial information on the amounts owed through the end of August to lawyers representing the archdiocese, the committee of parishes and the creditors, including sexual-abuse survivors, which make up the largest class of creditors in the case.

Combined, the legal costs are estimated to be approximately $16 million.

The archdiocese has paid about $5.3 million to the seven firms it retained to help navigate bankruptcy court since filing for Chapter 11 in January 2015, according to the financial disclosure it filed Friday.

It still owes another $4.1 million, bringing its estimated total costs for legal services in the case through Aug. 31 to about $9.4 million, court documents say.

The parish committee has so far paid about $2 million in legal costs, but still owes another $1 million for work done through the end of August.

Meanwhile, the creditors in the case, including the group of sexual-abuse survivors, have doled out about $1.3 million to the two firms representing their interests. The group still owes another $2.7 million for work completed through Aug. 31, according to its financial breakdown.

Not included among the disclosures was the amount owed to Jeff Anderson and his team, the lead attorney representing individual sexual abuse survivors’ civil claims against the archdiocese and its parishes, according to Mike Finnegan, an attorney with Anderson’s law firm in St. Paul.

Finnegan said no money has or will be paid to the law firm until survivors get paid.

“The only way we get money is if they get money,” Finnegan said.

An anonymous letter recently filed with the court suggested Anderson was intentionally trying to prolong the bankruptcy proceedings to increase his earnings.

Anderson did not respond to a call for comment. But Finnegan shot down that notion.

“It’s not accurate,” Finnegan said. “Jeff’s work and our work over decades of representing courageous survivors speaks far more than anything else about what Jeff and our firm has been about, and that is, number one, to ensure that no further abuse happens.”

Two such survivors who spoke to the media recently praised Anderson’s representation to date. 

Kressel recently heard arguments from the various parties in the case about what financial plan should ultimately dictate the payout to survivors.

One of the plans was crafted by lawyers for the archdiocese and rejected by the group of survivors. The second was submitted by attorneys for the survivors.

The major difference between the plans is the amount of money accessible to survivors, with a key sticking point centering on how much exposure the archdiocese’s insurers should have.

Kressel took the arguments under advisement and is expected to issue his decision in the coming weeks.

A statement provided by Thomas J. Abood, chair of the archdiocese’s Finance Council, touted its payment plan as the most expedient and fair way to get money to survivors.

“Friday’s fee disclosure in U.S. Bankruptcy Court serves as another reminder of Judge Robert Kressel’s words that the longer this process continues, the less money will be available to those who have been harmed,” the statement said. “The archdiocese’s plan provides economic justice to those harmed and allows the archdiocese to move forward with serving the catholic faithful and the community.”

Michael Flodine was driving at speeds topping 120 mph when his vehicle went flying over a Minnesota 36 highway embankment last winter and smashed into an SUV on a busy Roseville street, seriously injuring the other driver, authorities say.

For his reckless conduct, the 50-year-old Oakdale man was charged Tuesday with one count of criminal vehicular operation resulting in great bodily harm, according to the criminal complaint filed against him in Ramsey County District Court.

Witnesses told police that Flodine was driving a 2008 Audi A6 east on Minnesota 36 on Dec. 2 when the car suddenly left the highway and plunged down a steep embankment.

His car then crashed through a chain-link fence and onto southbound Fairview Avenue, where it collided with a concrete lane divider before continuing south on the busy thoroughfare at speeds of 120 to 135 mph, authorities say.

As Flodine’s Audi approached Roselawn Avenue, it reportedly passed a line of vehicles waiting at a four-way stop sign before plowing head-on into the northbound SUV.

Steven Gernes of St. Paul was driving the SUV, and he and Flodine were rushed via ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center for emergency treatment.

Both vehicles were “completely destroyed,” the complaint said.

Gernes, 64, sustained severe injuries to his right leg and ankle that continue to cause him daily pain, according to the criminal complaint.

A relative of Gernes said Tuesday that he had yet to see the charging document and declined to comment further.

Flodine could not be reached for comment and no attorney was listed for him in court records.

Court records show Flodine has been cited for speeding and other traffic violations in the past.

He pleaded guilty to two offenses in 2009: driving 82 mph in a 65 mph zone in Isanti County and at a “speed faster than reasonable and prudent” in Hennepin County. Flodine also pleaded guilty to speeding in a 2005 Ramsey County case.

His first court appearances on the latest charge is scheduled for Oct. 18.

A struggling New Brighton man wanted to be arrested the night he took a gas can and set his home on fire, authorities say.

Brody Allen Probasco called police around 8 p.m. Sept. 7 after getting into an argument with his mother over money, according to a criminal complaint filed against him Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court.

The 29-year-old told officers that his mother had started throwing things around their manufactured home, prompting him to call for help.

She told police her son had become verbally abusive during the argument and said she planned to leave and stay the night with relatives in Minneapolis until the situation cooled, legal documents say.

Angry she was leaving, Probasco “demanded” officers arrest him, the complaint said. Police explained to the “agitated” Probasco that they couldn’t because he had committed no crime.

About an hour later, Probasco took a gas can out of his shed, poured gasoline onto his bed, and set his home ablaze, the complaint said. 

Authorities responded to find flames emanating from the residence and no one inside, legal documents say.

The damage to the home was “severe,” according to the complaint.

Probasco turned himself in on Monday after showing up at a Minneapolis treatment center and was later charged with first-degree arson.

He told police he’s been having a hard time since his father died and “flipped out” the night of the fire. His said his actions were compelled by his body despite his mind’s insistence that they were wrong, the complaint said.

Probasco’s mother told officers that she and her son had been having a hard time getting along since her husband died two years ago. She added that Probasco struggles with his mental health.

Probasco has no felonies on his record. He was convicted twice in 2015 for disorderly conduct, once in 2012 for domestic assault and once in 2013 for violating a no contact order.

Neither he nor his mother could be immediately reached for comment.

Four Minnesota men are accused of trying to hire underage girls for sex after showing up at a St. Paul hotel where an undercover police officer was waiting to arrest them.

Dennis John Fix, 46, of Pine City; Deangelo Jermaine Verdell, 33, of South St. Paul; Kevin Allen Frahm, 49, of Hutchinson; and Joshua Duane Kiecker, 36, of Independence, all were charged with felonies in Ramsey County District Court this week following the Aug. 3 sting led by St. Paul police.

The men responded to a post placed by police on Backpage.com advertising an 18-year-old girl for sex, legal documents say. The website is commonly used to facilitate prostitution and sex-trafficking.

Each of the men responded to the ad and learned through text conversations with the undercover officer that the girl they were planning to meet was actually 15 years old, not 18, charges say.

They were arrested after they showed up at the hotel, authorities said.

One of the men, Verdell, was charged with an additional felony for sending a photograph of his genitalia to the cop he believed to be a 15-year-old girl, according to his criminal complaint.

Three of the four men could not be reached for comment. Kiecker declined to comment.

Fix has two related sex crimes on his record, including one for attempting to engage in prostitution in 2014 and another for fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Her sentence might have an end date, but the tarnished reputation a former Hamline University financial supervisor created for herself when she decided to steal more than $100,000 from her employer will haunt her forever, the woman said in court Wednesday.

“The fact that the people at Hamline think of me as a thief, that that’s what I’ll be known for now … that hurts,” Teresa Garin told Ramsey County District Judge Leonardo Castro. “I know what I did was wrong. I’ve never done anything like this before. I felt so helpless.”

The 51-year-old St. Paul mother and grandmother made her tearful remarks shortly before Castro sentenced her to 10 years of probation on one felony-level count of theft by swindle. Garin also was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution and complete 180 hours of community service.

Castro announced his decision after listening to Garin’s attorney, public defender Mary Margaret Mateer, talk about how the longtime accountant ended up swindling funds from Hamline University, where she worked as a supervisor in the accounts payable department since 2011.

Garin felt weighed down by the increasing demands of her children and grandchildren, all of whom relied on her for financial support, Mateer said.

“I think she’s a good person who made a horrible decision and got caught up in it,” Mateer said.

Garin spoke of her entanglement in the elaborate fraud scheme at the sentencing hearing.

“It was almost like a drug … but the guilt was killing me,” she explained.

Garin stole more than $150,000 from Hamline by creating fake vendor accounts and cashing checks issued by the university into her personal bank account, court documents say.

Police began investigating after Wells Fargo alerted Hamline’s chief financial officer that several of the university’s checks were being deposited into Garin’s personal account.

Officers later uncovered that Garin had issued or cashed nearly 70 checks from her employer totaling about $160,000.

She also looped in her daughter, Rachel Marie Latimer, and the father of one of her grandchildren, Zarice Lee Hoyt, into the scheme by creating fictitious vendor accounts in their names and depositing checks into them. Latimer cashed checks totaling about $73,000 from the university. Hoyt cashed about $34,000 worth of checks.

Both pleaded guilty to their role in the scheme and were sentenced earlier this summer to five years of probation.

Castro chastised Garin for bringing her family into the scheme.

“At some level I can be empathetic … but I struggle with how you got your children involved in something like this and put that scarlet letter on their heads for essentially the rest of their lives.”

The conviction is the first for Latimer. Garin and Hoyt have a handful of misdemeanor offenses for mostly traffic-related violations.

The majority of the roughly $160,000 financial loss to Hamline University was covered by insurance.

A St. Paul woman’s ex-boyfriend posted her address on Facebook along with an invitation to men suggesting she would pay them for sex if they came to her home, authorities say.

The woman contacted police after strangers started showing up at her house on Margaret Street in August in response to the ads, which were posted on the walls of several fictitious Facebook accounts created by Kou Thao, according to the criminal complaint filed against him in Ramsey County District Court this week.

Thao, 45, was charged with one count of gross misdemeanor-level stalking for his alleged conduct. He made his first court appearance in the case Friday.

The advertisements indicated that Thao’s ex would take the men to a private location after meeting at her St. Paul house, the complaint said. Once there, she would pay the men between $40 and $200 in exchange for sex, the advertisements said.

One of the posts was made on a fictitious Facebook account created using Thao’s ex-girlfriend’s husband’s name so that his family and friends would see it, charges say.

The woman cried and told officers that she was “very fearful” of what would happen to her as a result of the posts, the complaint said.

Police issued an arrest warrant for Thao in late August. He reportedly turned himself in Sept. 20.

In an interview with officers, the St. Paul man allegedly admitted to taking a photograph of his ex’s address from one of her electric bills and posting it to Facebook along with the advertisement soliciting men to her house for sex, the complaint said.

Thao’s criminal record includes two driving-while-intoxicated convictions in 2015 and 2016.

Neither he nor his public defender could be immediately reached for comment.

Thao’s next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 10.

A 19-year-old is heading to prison for his role in a shooting that broke out on a Green Line light-rail platform in St. Paul this past spring that left an innocent bystander injured.

Isaiah Charles Bracy of St. Paul was sentenced in Ramsey County District Court to three years in prison on one count of second-degree assault for the April incident.

The shooting took place after a “loud” group of young men entered the train at the downtown Central Station about 4:30 p.m. and started talking about “pills and getting high,” legal documents say.

The train operator later described to police witnessing the group looking out the window at another group of young men standing near a restaurant at the corner of Dale Street and University Avenue. The second group appeared to flash gang signs, he told officers, according to the criminal complaint filed against Bracy.

Shortly after, the train came to its scheduled stop at the Dale Street platform and the operator said he heard yelling and gunshots.

A 39-year-old man was struck in the back by one of the bullets. He had just left a friend’s house on Dale Street and was about to board a westbound train when he was hit.

Video footage captured on the platform’s surveillance system shows a fight underway on the platform as Bracy starts shooting in the direction of two men, the complaint said.

One of the men eventually turned around and started firing back.

Police suspect it was the gunfire from the second shooter that struck the 39-year-old, according to court records.

Surveillance footage showed Bracy fleeing the area.

The young man declined to comment during his sentencing hearing Thursday.

His public defender, Monique Theresa Salvetti, pointed out Bracy’s family in the courtroom before Ramsey County District Judge Leonardo Castro delivered his sentence.

“I hope their support bodes well for him when he (gets out),” Salvetti said.

Castro told Bracy he should “consider (himself) lucky” that he was facing only three years in prison since the bystander’s injuries could have been worse or Bracy himself could have been hurt during the shooting.

“You could be under the ground,” Castro said.

Bracy was convicted in January of possessing a pistol without a permit.

A Minneapolis man was remorseful and emotional when he admitted in court to strangling his girlfriend’s brother in a dispute last spring that got “out of hand,” his attorney said.

Steven Maurice Abrams made the admission during a court hearing in Ramsey County District Court on Friday, where the 55-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree intentional murder in the death of Carlton Campbell.

Neither Campbell nor Abram’s relatives could be immediately reached for comment.

His public defender, Thomas Handley, said family members were in attendance during the hearing, which he described as “very emotional.”

“It’s just a really tragic situation,” Handley said. “Mr. Abrams was friends with this person and things just got out of hand that day. He regrets that it happened and accepts responsibility.”

Abrams was still choking Campbell when police arrived at his girlfriend’s New Brighton home this past April 14 in response to a report of a domestic disturbance, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.

The girlfriend had ordered Abrams out of her apartment on the 1400 block of 20th Avenue Northwest earlier that day after a fight. When he returned that evening, Campbell, the woman’s 58-year-old brother, let him inside.

Abrams quickly began assaulting his longtime girlfriend, prompting her brother to intervene and call 911.

That’s when Abrams turned his attention toward Campbell, according to the criminal complaint.

He didn’t stop when Campbell told him he couldn’t breathe, nor when he lost consciousness, according to the complaint. He finally stepped away when police announced their presence at the apartment door around 8 p.m.

Campbell was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where he died a short time later.

Abrams has a long criminal history, including several convictions for disorderly conduct, as well as convictions for theft, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving while intoxicated, obstructing the legal process and assaulting a police officer.

He is expected to be sentenced in November to between 13 and 15 years in prison per the terms of a plea deal reached with prosecutors, Handley said.

“(Abrams) is going to try to move on with his life as best he can,” Handley said. “He is 55 years old now. He is going to make the most of the time he is going to get … in service to his inmates.”

A St. Paul Public Schools administrator will not be charged for sending what police said were threatening text messages to co-workers.

Robert Jon Peterson, 42, was arrested early Thursday morning on suspicion of terroristic threats, a felony. He was released from the Ramsey County Jail Friday evening.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office said Friday they would not charge him with a crime.

“Based upon the evidence presented, there is insufficient admissible evidence that could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to allow for a felony-level criminal charge. In the event that additional evidence is presented to us, we will review it for charging consideration,” spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said in an email.

Prosecutors are not asking police to investigate further.

St. Paul police haven’t decided whether to ask the city attorney’s office to consider less-serious charges against Peterson.

“The investigation will remain open and active until these decisions are made,” said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a police spokesman.

After the text messages were sent, the school district Wednesday closed the 1780 W. Seventh Street building where Peterson worked and restricted access to the central administrative building at 360 Colborne St.

Police have not said what exactly was in the messages.

Peterson is executive director of the Office of College and Career Readiness and the Department of School Climate and Support. He did not return phone calls seeking comment Friday night.

As of Thursday, Peterson remained an active employee with the district.

Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.

The public is invited to share their views on Ramsey County’s court system next month.

Judges and staff from Minnesota’s Second Judicial District will be present at the event, which is being billed as a “listening session” intended to inform staff of community members’ experiences with the system as well as their ideas on how it might improve, according to information provided by a spokesman for the state court system.

The free event will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Wilder Center, 451 N. Lexington Parkway in St. Paul.

Attendees will have the opportunity to provide their input while meeting in small groups with judges and other court staff during the event.

Judges will then share the themes that emerged from the discussions as well as how the system will use the input when the larger group reconvenes.

A 14-year-old accused of flashing an Airsoft gun during a fight in a Central High School bathroom last week now faces two felony charges.

The sight of the Airsoft gun, which are nonlethal gun replicas that typically shoot pellets, compelled school staff to temporarily shut down the building as panic spread, officials said.

The young teen has since been charged by juvenile petition in Ramsey County District Court with felony-level counts of reckless endangerment and possession of a dangerous weapon on school property, according to a spokesman for the Ramsey County attorney’s office.

The 14-year-old also was charged with obstruction of the legal process, which is a gross misdemeanor.

Since he is under the age of 16, the teen’s name and the criminal complaint detailing the allegations against him are private.

Two 15-year-olds also were charged in the Sept. 18 incident, which officials say escalated after the 14-year-old revealed a weapon tucked inside his waistband during a fight in the school’s bathroom around 10:15 a.m. Seeing the gun caused people in the bathroom to panic and scatter, police said at the time. Officers later discovered the weapon was an Airsoft.

A couple of minutes later, there was a confrontation between the 14-year-old student and a 15-year-old student, officers said. The older student punched the younger one and knocked him to the ground, according to police.

Central High School Principal Mary Mackbee told parents in a letter that two students made plans over the weekend to fight each other at school. A verbal confrontation turned physical in the hallway during an early lunch period, and other students followed to watch, Mackbee wrote.

Authorities found an unloaded BB gun and three foldable knives, which were not used during the altercation, according to Mackbee. Police said the Airsoft was in a backpack.

The 14-year-old who was punched was taken to a hospital and apparently was found to have no injuries, Linders said.

Police arrested the 15-year-old who allegedly punched the boy on suspicion of assault; he was booked at the Ramsey County juvenile detention center.

The 14-year-old’s 15-year-old stepbrother was in the bathroom with him when the Airsoft was displayed and might have had a knife or knives on him, according to police.

One of the 15-year-olds has since been charged with misdemeanor-level fifth-degree assault. The other faces charges of felony-level possession of a dangerous weapon on school property and third-degree riot, which is a gross misdemeanor.

The next court appearance for the 14-year-old will be later this week. Court dates for the 15-year-olds will take place in November.

The son of U.S. senator and former vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine made his first court appearance Tuesday on allegations he was among a group of protesters who disrupted a rally in support of President Donald Trump at the Minnesota Capitol in March.

Linwood “Woody” Kaine stood with his hands clasped behind his back while his attorney, John Michael Barham, addressed the judge during the brief hearing in Ramsey County District Court.

The parties quickly agreed on a date for Kaine’s next court appearance before the judge excused them.

The 25-year-old had his long hair pulled back into a ponytail and wore a denim shirt and black pants.

In addition to his lawyer, he was accompanied by a young man and woman who sat next to him in the back of the courtroom while he waited for his case to be called. Tim Kaine did not attend.

Woody Kaine has yet to enter a plea in his case.

While his father — Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the 2016 presidential race —  is a politician in Virginia, Kaine lives in Minneapolis, according to court records. Trump defeated Clinton in the November elections.

He was among eight people charged following the March 4 rally at the Capitol. Police say the rally was disrupted when a small group of people wearing black clothing and goggles began setting off smoke bombs and fireworks and spraying Mace in some Trump supporters’ faces.

Security officers saw five people dressed in black leaving the Capitol, including one who threw a smoke bomb inside, according to complaints filed by the city attorney’s office. The five went to a nearby spot and “tried to change their appearance by doing things like taking off their black clothing, putting on different jackets or hats, and turning their clothing inside out,” the complaints said.

Kaine was later charged with obstructing the legal process, a gross misdemeanor, as well as concealing his identity in a public place and fleeing a police officer. Both of the latter charges are misdemeanors.

Two others were charged with felonies for allegedly spraying Mace and using a stun gun and tear gas at the rally. One other was charged with a gross misdemeanor. The remaining four implicated face misdemeanor-level offenses.

Kaine’s next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 16.

A 14-year-old girl walked down the hallway of a St. Paul apartment building on her way to a relative’s unit when two men grabbed her and raped her, authorities say.

One of the men, Adrian Raymaar Keys, was charged this week in connection with the sexual assault, according to a criminal complaint filed against him Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court.

The 41-year-old St. Paul man faces one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Keys and his accomplice pulled the girl into a unit inside a West Side apartment complex on the 60 block of West George Street on May 23 as the teen was walking to her cousin’s apartment to retrieve her phone, the complaint said.

Once inside, the men tore off her clothes and assaulted her vaginally and orally, authorities say.

The girl later told police that her perpetrators smoked methamphetamine during the attack and occasionally blew it in her mouth as they assaulted her, charges say.

When it was over they threw her a $20 bill and left, the girl told officers, according to the charges.

She left the money behind and eventually disclosed what happened to her mother, who took her to a hospital for a sexual assault examination.

The young teen told police that she had seen her attackers inside her cousin’s apartment building a few days before the assault, charges say.

They had complimented her and her friend when they saw her dancing and singing inside the complex, the girl told police, according to the charges.

One of the men was also friends with one of the girl’s acquaintances on Facebook.

During an interview Tuesday with police, Keys admitted to having sex with the girl but said she had initiated the encounter. He also said he didn’t know that she was 14.

It does not appear that charges have yet been filed against Keys’ alleged accomplice in the assault.

Keys was convicted of second-degree murder in 1995. In that case, Keys, who was 17 at the time, fatally shot Heidi Brummett while attempting to rob her and a man with her at the time.

Keys also has convictions for violating an order for no contact, fifth-degree drug possession and driving while intoxicated.

No attorney was listed for him in court records and none of his relatives could be immediately reached for comment.

A 48-year-old was leaving a St. Paul bar near West Seventh Street this past June when he noticed someone walking toward him. A second later, he felt a crushing blow to his head.

The next thing he knew, he was on the ground with a group of young men surrounding him, the 48-year-old later told police. They dragged him to the side of Schneider’s Carpet One Floor and Home and searched his pockets before taking turns kicking and punching him as he lay on the ground.

The 48-year-old lost consciousness and woke up hours later bleeding and alone.

He managed to get into his car and drive himself to the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis. Doctors told him he had a concussion and other injuries consistent with being hit with a brick.

That’s the account outlined in a criminal complaint filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court.

Deandray Artez Easley of Minneapolis faces two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery for his involvement in the attack, according to the criminal complaint.

The robbery victim led police to Easley after seeing the 19-year-old’s picture in a Pioneer Press article about the sexual assault.

He told officers he recognized him as the person he saw walking toward him June 5 as he walked to his car after leaving Skarda’s Bar, charges say.

It was while he watched Easley that he said someone hit him in the head, according to the complaint.

He said Easley also was among the group that robbed and beat him after he fell to the ground, charges say.

In addition to that attack and the sexual assault, Easley is suspected in another aggravated robbery this past May. He pleaded not guilty to those charges in August. He also pleaded not guilty to aggravated robbery charges in his pending sexual assault case.

No attorney was listed for Easley in court records for his latest case.

A woman struck by an allegedly intoxicated driver in St. Paul on Wednesday night as she was walking across an intersection shortly after leaving work suffered permanent brain damage, authorities say.

Joy Hundley, 51, of South St. Paul was taken to Regions Hospital for treatment of a fractured skull and bleeding to her brain after the crash about 9:20 p.m. in the intersection of Robert and Fillmore Streets, legal documents say.

The driver who hit her, Gary Thomas Schmalz, was charged Friday with two counts of criminal vehicular operation that caused great bodily harm while under the influence of alcohol, according to the criminal complaint filed against him in Ramsey County District Court.

Police arrived to the crash scene to find paramedics treating Hundley after a 19-year-old bystander had performed CPR.

Hundley was taken to Regions Hospital, where she remained in critical condition Friday morning, according to the hospital.

Schmalz, who was driving a Pontiac Vibe, told police he was turning left onto Robert Street from Fillmore Avenue and had not seen the woman crossing the road because she was in dark clothing, charges say.

He estimated he was driving 10 to 15 mph when the woman “came out of nowhere,” the complaint said.

He said he knew he’d struck someone because the woman’s head “hit the hood of his car,” charges say.

An officer detected an odor of mouthwash from the 63-year-old from Greenville, S.C., who said he was in town to visit family, according to an affidavit for a search warrant in the case. Police asked him whether he had been drinking. Schmalz said he had a few beers by the river and his last drink was within 30 minutes of the crash, the affidavit said.

He also said he’d taken a shot of whiskey and smoked marijuana but denied feeling any effects from the substances, charges say.

A woman who witnessed the crash told police she saw Hundley lying in the intersection and checked on her. As she did, she asked Schmalz if he’d called the police.

Schmalz “chuckled” and said no, the complaint said.

Another witness said Schmalz sat against the hood of his car “with a smirk on his face” while others attended to Hundley, according to legal documents.

When that woman asked him to move his car to make way for medics, Schmalz reportedly replied, “I’m not moving,” the complaint said.

Several opened and unopened containers of beer and liquor were found in Schmalz’s vehicle, including a bottle under the driver’s seat, police said.

Schmalz failed field-sobriety tests administered at the scene, charges say, and a portable breath test indicated his blood-alcohol concentration was 0.139. The legal limit to drive in Minnesota is 0.08. A judge granted a search warrant to draw Schmalz’s blood for testing.

Hundley is expected to be in the intensive care unit for several weeks, the complaint said.

The night-shift worker at Comcast had just left work before she was struck Wednesday night.

Neither Hundley nor Schmalz’s family could be immediately reached for comment. No attorney was listed for Hundley in court records.

Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.