Minnesota Man Charged With Killing 3 Apartment Staffers Over $65 Parking Contract

A 30-year-old man is facing murder charges after allegedly shooting three apartment complex staffers to death in St. Paul, Minnesota, in a dispute that started over a $65-a-month parking garage contract.

Tsegaab Binessu, originally from Ethiopia, is accused of killing Adam Wilwerding, 43, the community manager known as AJ, Dena Silcox, 56, the assistant manager who had worked at the office for nearly a decade, and Nansi Fuentes Zambrano, 25, according to court documents cited by KSTP and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

According to those court documents, Binessu wanted to cancel his parking contract because he had plans to join the Navy. He called the leasing office about it, and staff told him he couldn't cancel because he had just renewed the contract. He then told them he was coming down to the office in person.

What happened next, according to the documents, was methodical and brutal. Wilwerding was shot six times. Silcox was shot five times in rapid succession and reportedly screamed "No, no, no no" before a final shot sent her to the floor. A scream was captured on surveillance video, followed by four more gunshots. Fuentes Zambrano was found in a back room with a gunshot wound to the head; investigators say she had tried to escape through a window.

Investigators recovered 21 spent shell casings from the leasing office, according to the court documents.

Binessu was arrested roughly 200 miles away in Virginia, Minnesota, driving Fuentes Zambrano's car. Police say he confessed to the killings in a phone call with his roommate, who then contacted law enforcement. The court documents state Binessu told his roommate "he had argued with apartment management and ended up killing three people."

What Binessu Told Investigators

During interrogation, Binessu reportedly told police he "hated the American system." According to the court documents, he said he had spent seven years trying to bring his wife and children to the U.S. from Ethiopia and had been blocked by the immigration process, a struggle he said contributed to his divorce.

The documents state Binessu believes he was treated unfairly "because he is black and an immigrant," and that he told investigators he had "lost everything he cared about: his wife, his children, his business, his peace of mind" and that "life without his family no longer made sense." He also said he had quit his job as a truck driver because of stress.

The documents indicate Binessu declined to discuss the actual shooting itself, even while describing his broader grievances at length.

What is established here and what is not requires precision. The allegation that Binessu believed he was mistreated due to his race or immigration status is his own claim, relayed through investigators in charging documents. It is not an independent finding by any court, and nothing in the available record suggests the apartment staff treated him differently because of his background. The dispute that preceded the shooting, by every account so far, was a mundane contract renewal disagreement over sixty-five dollars a month.

A man's stated grievances about his own life, including real and sympathetic struggles like a stalled family immigration case and a divorce, do not establish that those grievances had anything to do with why three people were shot dead in an office. The court documents themselves draw no such connection. They describe a targeted, close-range shooting carried out shortly after a phone call about a parking contract.

Charges and Next Steps

Binessu has been charged with second-degree murder and was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, July 22. He faces additional charges beyond the initial count, according to the court documents, though the full charging list was not detailed in available reporting.

Second-degree murder in Minnesota carries a maximum sentence of 40 years, though prosecutors have not yet indicated whether they intend to pursue additional or elevated charges given the number of victims and the apparent premeditation described in witness accounts and surveillance footage.

No information has been made public about Binessu's immigration status or how long he has lived in Minnesota. St. Paul police have not released a statement beyond what is contained in the charging documents, and no motive beyond the parking contract dispute has been confirmed by investigators. The case is now in the hands of the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, and further hearings will determine what additional charges, if any, are filed.