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Minnesotan slain in Philadelphia

A young man from Austin, Minn., who went to Philadelphia to teach math to inner-city children, was shot dead in a robbery.

By ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune

Last update: June 16, 2008 - 9:09 AM

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Beau Zabel could do anything, say those who knew and loved him.

A year after graduating from an Illinois college with a degree in philosophy, Spanish and math, the 23-year-old from Austin, Minn., wanted more from life.

So last month, the 2003 Austin High School graduate packed his few belongings and left the Midwest for Philadelphia, eager to teach math to inner-city kids.

But the idealistic life led by the straight-A student and Eagle Scout ended early Sunday when he was shot to death during what police described as a botched robbery attempt while walking home from a summer job in his new city.

Now Zabel's family members in southern Minnesota and Iowa are reeling at the senselessness of a young and promising life so violently cut short.

"I haven't really felt the anger, but I'm sure I will, because it's part of the cycle," said Zabel's father, Doug Kammeier of Iowa City, Iowa.

"I don't know the circumstances," Kammeier said.

"I don't know if the gun went off by accident. I don't know why the guy was trying to rob him.

"It takes every type of person to populate this world, and Beau just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.

Philadelphia police say Zabel was shot in the neck as he walked home at 1:30 a.m. Sunday from his late shift at a Starbucks coffee shop, where he worked part time for extra cash until his student-teaching position was to begin in a few weeks. He had planned to teach while earning his master's degree in education from Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Witnesses heard gunfire and saw a lone gunman run from the scene where Zabel lay dying, police said. Zabel's pockets were turned inside out, but he still had his wallet.

Police said they have made no arrests and have few leads.

'What he wanted to do'

As Zabel's family prepared to travel to Philadelphia to bring his body home, they remembered the gregarious young man with an appetite for debate, politics and a good dish of lasagna.

"If he had $60 and somebody needed $50, he'd give it to them," Kammeier said. "He didn't have a lot of material goods. He appreciated it when someone gave something to him, but he didn't need those things. His desire to get something more out of life was elevated above that."

That's why, even though Zabel had excelled in several subjects at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., no one questioned his desire to teach in a big city, said Zabel's ex-stepfather, Terry Zabel of Chaska.

"He just cared about kids," Terry Zabel said. "He could've gone to some other teaching areas like we suggested, something in the South, like Texas or Tennessee, but he chose to go to Philadelphia. He wanted to teach kids in areas where they needed the help.

"We worried about him going to a big city, as I think any parent would worry, but that was what he wanted to do, and you weren't going to talk him out of it."

Zabel had many friends, his father said. That's another reason why the manner of his death was so shocking.

"He was very disarming," Kammeier said. "Everybody that would come in contact with him liked him immediately. Nobody would ever hold a grudge or be angry with him, and that's usually where violence comes from. I never thought that he would be in a position of having to answer to violence like that."

Kammeier said he believes it's important to remember the lesson Zabel taught by how he lived his short life -- namely, to live by the Golden Rule.

"I'm very, very sad, but I'm not angry," he said. "You can't dwell on those negative kinds of feelings. Beau wouldn't want it that way.

"We'll try to remember the good things and the legacies he would want us to devote our own lives to," he said.

Zabel is also survived by his mother, Lana Zamora, a younger brother and older sister.

Plans for a funeral in Austin are pending.

Abby Simons • 612-673-4921

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