A 15-year-old boy was killed and his 14-year-old brother was wounded Tuesday in St. Paul in a shooting that their father said grew out of a dispute with other boys in the neighborhood.
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March 14, 2013 at 5:55PM
Police identified the older boy as Kao Vang, who died at Regions Hospital. His brother, Kou Vang, was shot in the arm, said the boys' father, Chue Vang. Kou Vang was treated at Regions Hospital and released, said a hospital spokeswoman.
They were shot about 2 p.m. in an alley behind 922 Minnehaha Av. E. near Cypress St., police said. An 18-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy were arrested at a nearby house in the 600 block of E. 3rd St.
"I saw the gun; I saw the fire; I saw him go down," said a neighbor, Joseph Taylor III, who was looking out his window. "That's something you don't want to see no more."
He said he saw the Vang boys standing barefoot on the corner of Minnehaha and Cypress. They appeared winded and were looking over their shoulders as if they were being chased, he said.
Taylor said he heard car tires squeal and saw the boys take off running. A white Acura appeared with two young men inside. They chased the boys into the alley, he said.
The driver started firing, hitting the younger boy in the arm and hitting his brother several times in the chest, Taylor said.
Police spokesman Michael Jordan said investigators are trying to figure out why the boys were shot.
Family members and neighbors said the dispute arose from an incident two years ago in which one of the Vang boys and a friend broke a school window.
Chue Vang said his son's friend got a harsher punishment because he was older. The friend's brothers then picked a fight with the Vang boys over it, he said.
"There were fights with each other, but only with fists," he said. "This time they brought their guns."
Neighbors said it sounded as if dozens of shots were fired.
Neighbor Tiffany Voss said she used to work with Kao Vang at a fast-food restaurant.
"He was real quiet," she said. "He didn't even seem the type to get into an argument."
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