A Minnesota lady was fatally shot exterior of her office final week by a coworker after she denied his repeated romantic advances, police stated.
Nicole Hammond, 28, was discovered shot the morning of Oct. 24 within the parking zone of a enterprise within the 400 block of Lincoln Avenue Northeast in St. Cloud, about 60 miles northwest of Minneapolis, police stated in a news release.
The decision to police got here in simply earlier than 7 a.m., and authorities stated “it appeared that the shooter had left the world previous to the arrival of police.”
Hammond was discovered laying on the bottom of the parking zone with a pool of blood surrounding her head, the possible trigger assertion stated.
Officers tried life saving measures on Hammond, however she died on the scene. In accordance with the post-mortem, Hammond was shot in the best facet of her neck and the bullet was discovered within the left shoulder space.
Police recognized Michael Jordan Carpenter, 36, of St. Cloud, because the suspect. He was recognized to the sufferer and later charged with second-degree homicide.
Within the investigation, police spoke with numerous coworkers who indicated that Carpenter had made quite a few advances in direction of Hammond, “however his advances had been repeatedly rebuffed over the course of the previous month,” the possible trigger assertion stated.
Coworkers additionally described the defendant as having a foul mood.
A evaluation of Hammond’s cellphone discovered quite a few texts between her and Carpenter.
The night time previous to the taking pictures, Hammond indicated she “didn’t wish to be touched by the defendant, nor did she wish to be manipulated by him,” the possible trigger assertion stated.
“She additionally knowledgeable him to not make issues uncomfortable at work,” the submitting stated.
A search warrant executed on Carpenter’s car discovered a 9mm pistol and a loaded journal in a carrying case on the driving force’s facet rear seat with a spherical within the chamber. The model and model of bullets matched the shell casing discovered subsequent to Hammond on the scene, per the submitting.
Carpenter was taken into custody at a residence in Sauk Rapids at 9:50 a.m. on Oct. 24 and introduced into the police division for questioning. Police stated a handgun was recovered within the arrest.
Carpenter instructed police that he had walked in direction of Hammond’s automotive that morning, heard a gunshot and noticed an individual attending to her, based on the possible trigger assertion. However police stated within the assertion he wouldn’t have been capable of see somebody serving to her because of the lighting within the lot and autos blocking the road of sight.
He stated that he noticed plenty of blood and was too traumatized so he left. He didn’t render help, go to work or name 911, the assertion stated. He additionally instructed officers he was upset in regards to the textual content dialog with Hammond.
Police say that Carpenter supplied a number of contradictory statements, together with that he was conscious Hammond had not clocked into work regardless of he himself by no means going into the enterprise or clocking in himself.
He was booked into Benton County Jail, the place he stays, and was charged with second-degree felony homicide. If convicted, he faces a most sentence of 40 years in jail if convicted.
Lawyer info for Carpenter was not instantly out there.
