Teen arrested in shooting death in St. Paul's St. Anthony Park neighborhood

St. Paul police have arrested a teenager in connection with the shooting death of a man in his front yard last weekend after he tried to stop a car break-in.

Michael Brasel, 44, a father of two boys, a husband and a youth hockey coach, was shot just before 7:30 a.m. Saturday in the 2300 block of Chilcombe Avenue in the quiet St. Anthony Park neighborhood where the family has lived since 2008. Officials said the suspect was attempting to break into Brasel's wife's car.

Brasel died at HCMC about 30 minutes later from multiple gunshot wounds, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office said.

Police Chief Axel Henry said information from the community helped lead a SWAT team to execute a search warrant Wednesday in the 1600 block of Reaney Avenue. There they arrested a 17-year-old boy who has been booked on suspicion of second-degree murder.

Henry did not disclose the teenager's name or whether a gun was recovered at the scene, but he said that he is "extremely confident" the 17-year-old is connected to the case.

"If you commit gun violence in this city, we are coming. We are going to find you," Henry said. "The juvenile will be booked into the juvenile facility, and that process will move forward in that way."

The teen's first court hearing will be Thursday.

Police are still investigating the case to determine if more people were involved in Brasel's death. At a news conference announcing the arrest, Mayor Melvin Carter praised the Police Department for clearing homicide cases at a rate above the national average.

"That doesn't erase the pain that our entire city feels — certainly that the Brasel family feels," Carter said. "We endeavor every day to demonstrate to people the extent to which St. Paul is a great place to find opportunity and the wrong place to fire a weapon."

In a Facebook post Sunday, Brasel's wife, Hilary, described the immediate aftermath of her husband's killing, saying, "Ever the protector and good man he stood up for me with his last effort and breath.

"Never thought I would wake up to 3 gunshots all of which hit Michael in the chest. 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. "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."

In a statement released Monday, Hilary Brasel asked the public for any information leading to her husband's killer, and said she and her family's "world has been turned upside down by the senseless act that tragically took Michael's life in the front yard of our home. … We are forever grateful to all of those who have rallied around us, from our beloved hockey and lacrosse families, to our amazing neighbors and friends in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul, to our steadfast immediate family and close friends who are helping hold us together."

A fundraiser set up to support the Brasel family has raised more than $180,000. A candlelight vigil to honor Michael Brasel is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Langford Park Recreation Center, 30 Langford Park, in St. Paul.