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Post by Russell Letson on Jun 22, 2021 13:45:59 GMT -5
Bill messaged me to ask about this yesterday, and I didn't know much beyond the bare fact that a university prof had been shot, apparently at random. The shooting took place on a quiet suburban dead-end street overlooking the Mississippi a couple miles from us, and the killer was picked up (it turns out) on the edge of campus, not far from our house. He was charged today, and the details came out. It's a tragedy of errors. The judge, by the way, is a friend of ours, who retired from the bench year before last year but still fills in from time to time. I suspect this is not the kind of case he anticipated catching. Man accused of shooting and killing SCSU professor charged with 2nd-degree murder
Anna Haecherl St. Cloud Times
ST. CLOUD — The man accused of shooting a St. Cloud State University professor to death Sunday was charged Tuesday with murder and other crimes.
Jason Robert Beckman, 45, of Duluth, is charged with second-degree murder with a dangerous weapon, felony theft and possession of a firearm after a previous conviction of a violent crime in 2020, according to the Stearns County Attorney's Office.
Beckman is accused of killing 68-year-old Edward Anthony Ward, a St. Cloud State University professor, in what police have described as a random incident.
Judge Frederick L. Grunke set bail for Beckman at $2 million, or $1 million with conditions. Grunke also ordered a mental competency examination for Beckman.
According to the criminal complaint against him, Beckman is accused of committing several felonies in Waite Park and St. Cloud before the shooting that was reported about 6:16 a.m. Sunday at a south St. Cloud residence in the 2600 block of Island View Drive.
Beckman is suspected of stealing a car in Waite Park around 5:45 a.m. that was later found at the scene of the shooting.
During the investigation, Waite Park police found a broken-down pickup truck in the 400 block of Park Meadows Drive in Waite Park. According to the complaint, officers contacted the owner of the truck, a man from the Duluth area, who said he loaned Beckman his truck to travel to southwest Minnesota. The owner said he did not know why Beckman would be in the St. Cloud area.
Beckman told investigators he got lost driving the pickup truck in Waite Park and that the truck broke down. He found an unoccupied car with the keys in the ignition nearby and drove away, according to the criminal complaint.
Beckman told investigators he again got lost and, while driving down Island View Drive, he swerved to avoid a large tree branch in the road and crashed the car in a yard.
Beckman told police he knocked on the front door of a nearby home to get help after the crash. Ward answered the door, according to the court document, and Beckman drew his gun and pulled the trigger.
Beckman told investigators he had used controlled substances a few days earlier after that he thought he saw a man in a parking lot point a gun at him. Beckman told investigators he wasn't sure of it was a delusion or not, but said he thought the man who answered his knock was the same man.
After the shooting, Beckman admitted to kicking a neighboring garage door open to try and find another vehicle, but later fled on foot on the Beaver Island Trail.
Beckman was located around 7:11 a.m. Sunday in the area of Halenbeck Hall on the campus of St. Cloud State University, about 1.5 miles from the scene of the shooting, carrying a handgun.
Beckman had no known history or contact with the victims or the Stearns County area before the crimes he is accused of committing, according to the complaint.
www.sctimes.com/story/news/2021/06/22/man-who-shot-and-killed-scsu-professor-charged-2nd-degree-murder/5306373001/ |
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Post by TKennedy on Jun 22, 2021 15:11:48 GMT -5
I thought of you when I read that Russ. Did you know the victim?
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Post by dradtke on Jun 22, 2021 16:01:59 GMT -5
I heard this on the radio today and wondered if you knew him.
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Post by Marshall on Jun 22, 2021 16:17:06 GMT -5
Very sad.
Every day here there’s another tragic car jacking story on the news. That plus reckless tragic accidents with stolen vehicles where the perps flee the scene. Guns involved in the hijackings, often killing or maiming the innocents.
Young black dude gang bangers mostly. Just so incomprehensible what would cause someone to choose that self destructive way of life.
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Post by billhammond on Jun 22, 2021 16:37:46 GMT -5
Very sad. Every day here there’s another tragic car jacking story on the news. That plus reckless tragic accidents with stolen vehicles where the perps flee the scene. Guns involved in the hijackings, often killing or maiming the innocents. Young black dude gang bangers mostly. Just so incomprehensible what would cause someone to choose that self destructive way of life. The St. Cloud perp:  |
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Post by billhammond on Jun 22, 2021 16:39:13 GMT -5
Neck tattoo is always a bad sign.
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Post by drlj on Jun 22, 2021 16:41:54 GMT -5
What can a person even say about something so crazy?
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Post by t-bob on Jun 22, 2021 16:59:47 GMT -5
Neck tattoo is always a bad sign. I’m surprised you said …. Neck tattoo is always a bad sign I have dozen good people that has tattoos on his/her neck. But that person didn’t look very good! |
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Post by t-bob on Jun 22, 2021 17:05:18 GMT -5
Very sad. Every day here there’s another tragic car jacking story on the news. That plus reckless tragic accidents with stolen vehicles where the perps flee the scene. Guns involved in the hijackings, often killing or maiming the innocents. Young black dude gang bangers mostly. Just so incomprehensible what would cause someone to choose that self destructive way of life. Obviously it’s drugs and especially opoids. |
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Post by jdd2 on Jun 22, 2021 17:42:30 GMT -5
Last time I talked to one sister, she spent some time on car jackings--how common they were, how to avoid, etc. Later I remembered that some years earlier, my dad (before he died) had shown me his key fob, and the "panic button". I had to ask what that was.
You can never go home again
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Post by Russell Letson on Jun 22, 2021 17:51:15 GMT -5
We didn't know Dr. Ward--he was in the College of Business. Before the details were published, I wondered about the Duluth connection, since Ward's daughter lives there, but it turns out the asshole was just lost and, apparently, not just muddleheaded but quasi-delusional. As soon as I saw the mugshot with the neck tats, I suspected he was a felon of some kind, so it was a puzzle what he'd be doing on a nice suburban street at 6:00 a.m. He had apparently once been a guest of the local state prison, a famously grim place built from locally-quarried granite.
BTW--what I can see of the tattoos reads "H8TD," which I don't think is about the sports-clothing line that comes up on Google. I'm wondering whether they're prison art or something he bought when he got out. (He doesn't have them in his old mugshot.)
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Post by John B on Jun 22, 2021 18:06:49 GMT -5
H8TD - Hated
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Post by Marty on Jun 22, 2021 18:30:09 GMT -5
Neck tattoo is always a bad sign. I’m surprised you said …. Neck tattoo is always a bad sign I have dozen good people that has tattoos on his/her neck. But that person didn’t look very good! Good neck tattoos are usually artistic, Prison or gang sign tattoos are bad news. Now this putz will be back in the prison system for life where he is comfortable and taken care of by the state. |
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Post by coachdoc on Jun 22, 2021 18:44:37 GMT -5
Very sad. Every day here there’s another tragic car jacking story on the news. . Young black dude gang bangers mostly. Just so incomprehensible what would cause someone to choose that self destructive way of life. Is that statement justified? Have you ever been stuck in a ghetto, fearing for your life? That’s every day life for those stuck living there. |
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Post by Marshall on Jun 22, 2021 18:52:04 GMT -5
No. I haven’t.
I can’t say I know much about the ghetto sub culture. But from what I have heard and read these are mostly very young kids who get caught up in a death game ( probably under instruction from their older gang leaders). It’s unfathomable to me.
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Post by david on Jun 22, 2021 21:34:13 GMT -5
I know that we have detractors of the show here on the board, but watching the series "The Wire" certainly changed my opinion of what someone growing up in the "ghetto culture" might endure, and gave me a bit more sympathy to their plight.
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,921 
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Post by Dub on Jun 22, 2021 23:09:19 GMT -5
I know that we have detractors of the show here on the board, but watching the series "The Wire" certainly changed my opinion of what someone growing up in the "ghetto culture" might endure, and gave me a bit more sympathy to their plight. I had never heard of The Wire so looked it up. Wikipedia had this to say. I’m one who’d usually rather read a well researched non-fiction account of something than involve myself with a fictional narrative and characters. I may check it out sometime, but fiction is more fun when the the entire framework and setting is fictional, not just the plot line and the characters. |
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Post by david on Jun 22, 2021 23:35:41 GMT -5
Dub, I can't imagine a "well researched non-fiction account" that could capture the visceral, gritty reality portrayed in this TV series. Due to politics and reality, it is doubtful that a "non-fiction account" would otherwise be written and released.
I am confronted with the possibility of, "what if this is really true." It strikes me as being an explanation of the basis of reality for human behavior that I cannot otherwise explain.
In short, please check it out and let me (us) know your thoughts.
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Post by jdd2 on Jun 22, 2021 23:47:52 GMT -5
I borrowed a box set of the wire when I was in hospital, got thru 3-4 of six(?) seasons. The first was really good, then it fell off a lot.
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