Minneapolis man accused of attempting to kill apartment property manager with ax

A Minneapolis man is charged with second-degree attempted murder after he allegedly broke down an office door with a sledgehammer and then attacked a property manager with an ax.

Ying Vang, 59, is being held in Hennepin County jail while awaiting a hearing on Sept. 30. His bail has been set at $250,000.

According to court documents:

Police officers were called to the Hillock, an apartment building at 4440 Snelling Av. in south Minneapolis that caters to seniors, and found several residents holding Vang on the ground.

Vang had been served with a notice earlier in the day by a property manager that his lease would not be renewed. Vang returned to his apartment, grabbed a sledgehammer and an ax, and went to find the property manager.

She was in her office, with the door locked, when Vang used the sledgehammer to break down the door. He then pushed the victim up against the wall of her office and used the ax to strike her “in the face and neck in one blow.” At that point residents pulled Vang out of the office and pinned him to the ground.

Police were able to obtain surveillance video from the apartment that showed Vang walking through the hall with an ax and a sledgehammer. The video showed Vang breaking down the office door with the sledgehammer and then switching to an ax before entering the office.

The victim was taken to the hospital and received stitches for a wound that stretched down the right side of her face from below her eye to the bottom of her neck. Hospital staff told her that an artery in her neck had been cut. She is now recovering at home.

On top of the second-degree attempted murder charge, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office also charged Vang with first-degree assault causing great bodily harm.

In 2022, Vang was evicted from the Upper Post apartments for veterans at Fort Snelling for failing to pay rent, which was $22 per month, from September 2021 through April 2022.