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Police seek motive in fatal random shootings in St. Paul
Published 10:31am Wednesday, February 13, 2013
OAKDALE — Police were still trying to determine Tuesday why a 34-year-old man randomly shot at passing vehicles in a suburban St. Paul neighborhood, wounding a female driver and killing her 9-year-old son, an aspiring astronaut whom she’d just picked up from daycare.
A witness told The Associated Press that the man, whom police identified Tuesday as Nhan Lap Tran of Oakdale, was nonchalantly walking down the block the night before, as if he was on a stroll, when he began firing.
Devin Aryal, 9, of Oakdale was killed. His mother, Melissa Aryal, 39, was shot in the arm. A woman in another vehicle also was injured, but was expected to survive.
Police Chief Bill Sullivan said it appeared Tran legally owned the handgun used in the attack, and that authorities are not aware of any mental health issues he may have. Sullivan said officials were trying to determine if something happened to trigger the shootings.
