Home invasion shooting in St Paul 4-25-10

[FJ540]

http://kstp.com/article/stories/s1529284.shtml
St. Paul woman killed in apparent home invasion
A 25-year-old St. Paul woman was killed early Sunday in an apparent home invasion.

The woman was found dead around 6:30 a.m. after officers responded to a house along the 1700 block of West Minnehaha Avenue.

St. Paul police identified the victim as Heidi Firkus. Her 27-year-old husband, Nicholas Firkus, was taken to Regions Hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg. He has since been released.

Police said they received two 911 calls from the house. The first, a report of a burglary, was lost, while the second reported shots had been fired.

"He indicated he and his wife were upstairs in the home," said Sgt. Paul Schnell of the St. Paul Police Department. "They heard noises downstairs. The man said he armed himself with a shotgun."

The man told police he confronted an intruder coming through the front door.

"A struggle ensued over the shotgun, (the) shotgun went off and the woman was shot," Schnell said.

"I heard a guy's voice, just pleading for help basically," said Branden O'Connor, who is staying next door to the home. "He sounded like he was in pain. It was a scary sound."

Authorities say there was no sign of forced entry or a struggle. They are still looking for the suspect and planned to stay at the scene through Sunday evening.

[mrokern]

Something smells. No sign of forced entry, no sign of a struggle.

I vote they all knew each other, based on current information available.

[FJ540]

I don't like it either, but I'm also good friends with a friend of the deceased. He didn't know of any reason for this.

[1911fan]

no signs of forced entry is not unusual, BG's in neighborhoods often watch for who needs a key to get inside the house during the day. My wife never locks the back door during the day, says its a pain letting the dog in and out.

[FJ540]

That's one of my biggest pet peeves with the mrs. She'll leave the front door unlocked and be working out back.

[mrokern]

Latest reports are that the home was supposedly secured, yet no break-in was detected.

We'll have to wait and see. Not saying it couldn't have happened the way it was stated, but there's some weirdness here at first glance.

-Mark

[FJ540]

Also keep in mind these were youth leaders at my parents church.

I don't know them, but I know several people who do.

[mrokern]

Also keep in mind these were youth leaders at my parents church.

I don't know them, but I know several people who do.

Sure. Like I said, it could have gone down exactly as described. There are a lot of possibilities here.

-Mark

[Paul]

Keep in mind that it's not really that hard to get into a "secured" house. For example, if the door handle is locked, but the deadbolt is not, you can usually use a credit card and open the door in about five seconds. Especially with rear garage service doors that rarely have deadbolts... And people don't seem to usually lock the door leading to the interior of the house. Also, some windows aren't all that hard to bypass the lock and open.

[westberg]

[R.E.T.]

The question in my mind is if they were upstairs when they heard the noise, why would the wife come down stairs with the husband? That is assumining she did.

[FJ540]

http://www.twincities.com/ci_14958712

Clifford Mitchell, who lives down the street, said that on Sunday morning he heard a car "pull out real fast, screeching tires" in the alley behind the Firkus' home. He estimated it was 6:15 or 6:20 a.m., and said, "whoever it was was in a real rush." Mitchell said he didn't see the car.

Another interesting twist:

Property records show the Minnehaha Avenue home was last sold in 2007, and tax records from 2009 show Heidi and Nicholas Firkus were the taxpayers, but the property wasn't homesteaded, suggesting they were renters.

They were supposed to be out of the house today. So if they were packed, or packing, there wouldn't be the usual clutter to leave evidence of a struggle.

[FJ540]

They changed it to a murder investigation, the house wasn't being packed, and it's not looking good for Nick; yet he remains off the suspect list for now.

The gun is at the lab and results will take a couple days.

[Paul]

They changed it to a murder investigation, the house wasn't being packed...

There's a shocker...

[FJ540]

I'm close personal friends with a dozen people who'd vouch for this guy - none of them saw it coming.