Eyewitnesses testify in trial of man charged in attempted murder of Minneapolis police crime scene investigator

A St. Paul woman heading home from Surly Brewing on an ordinary Wednesday night in April testified Monday that she jumped into action after witnessing the ambush shooting of a Minneapolis police crime scene investigator.

Emilie Clancy said her attention turned across the street to a parking lot while waiting at the intersection of SE. Malcolm and University avenues on April 20. She said she saw someone run up to another person and hold something close to their neck.

"I heard two loud bangs and that other person stumbling down the sidewalk," Clancy said.

Clancy was one of two eyewitnesses to take the stand Monday morning in Hennepin County District Court for the premeditated murder trial of Timothy Amacher, a taekwondo master from St. Paul charged with attempted first-degree murder and aiding an accomplice after the fact. He is accused of plotting the shooting of Nicole Lenway, the mother of their 6-year-old son, to gain full custody.

Amacher's ex-girlfriend, Colleen Purificacion Larson, says Amacher pressured her into firing the point-blank shots in the parking lot of FamilyWise, a supervised visit and exchange center in Minneapolis.

Lenway was struck in the arm and neck but managed to call 911. The jury listened to a recording of the call with Lenway, who's heard gasping for air in a raspy voice, her words indiscernible. Then Clancy is heard screaming "Oh, my God!" in the background.

Clancy said she didn't know Lenway but had her get in the passenger seat of her car.

"I was pushing down as hard as I could to stop the bleeding," she said. "She said her name was Nikki and that she was shot. … She could barely speak. She could only say two things. Her name and … it was a she."

As this was taking place, a friend of Lenway's was in the parking lot hiding in her vehicle. Megan Curran of Maple Grove testified that she was on the phone in her car when she saw the shooter fire three shots at Lenway. She described seeing the smoke from the gunshots in the air and Lenway "wobbling" before ducking to hide.

"I was afraid I was going to get shot, too," Curran said. "I locked my door and laid down as low as I could because I didn't understand what was happening."

Curran said she also feared for her son inside FamilyWise. She didn't look up or exit her vehicle until she heard the emergency sirens. Clancy testified that Curran was hysterical when she saw Lenway covered in blood.

"I told Nikki it's going to be OK and I love you and you're going to be OK," Curran said.

Lenway and Curran became friends after crossing paths at FamilyWise. Their sons had the same supervised visitation schedules every Wednesday night and the moms often went on Target runs together or grabbed coffee to kill time while their sons visited with their fathers for an hour and a half. She said they get their kids at the same time every week since entry to the secured building is through a video surveillance doorbell. She said it's easier for staff to let them both in at once.

But that Wednesday, Curran was finishing up a call.

Neither eyewitness could tell the gender of the shooter. They both said the shooter was wearing a black puffy jacket with the hood on and their face covered with a surgical mask. They didn't see which direction the shooter went after firing the shots.

Minneapolis police officers arriving at the scene wore body cameras that captured eyewitnesses reeling from the shooting after the ambulance arrived to rush Lenway to the hospital.

As Lenway was on a stretcher, MPD officer Peter Bacon said, "Does she know who shot her?"

Clancy gasped when Bacon noted the blood on her hand. She looked down at her hand and started crying. "I was holding her neck," she said. "She got in my car. She was bleeding all over."

Lenway survived after being intubated in the hospital for five days. She remains employed by MPD, has full custody of her son and is listed as one of the prosecutor's 100 potential witnesses to testify in Amacher's trial.

Larson, who allegedly fired the life-threatening shots, is also listed as a witness and faces a charge of attempted first-degree murder. Her trial is being held separately in January.

On the first day of testimony Thursday, jurors learned that Amacher met Larson while she was taking taekwondo classes from him. That's also how Lenway met Amacher before they started dating and moved in together in 2013.

Their relationship was rocky, and Lenway moved out in 2015 before finding out she was pregnant with their son, who was born in June 2016. When Lenway started dating an MPD officer in 2017, prosecutors said Amacher began filing false child- and domestic-abuse reports to get custody.

Amacher was instead granted supervised visitation. According to court records in the child custody case filed in 2018, Amacher's parenting time is suspended until further notice.