Police suspect Minnesotan killed in Philly for his iPod

Philadelphia police looking into Beau Zabel's slaying think the Austin, Minn., native may have died over the music player.

By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune

Last update: June 16, 2008 - 11:06 PM

A Minnesota man shot to death Sunday on a dark Philadelphia street may have been killed by someone after his iPod, police said Monday.

Beau Zabel, a 23-year-old native of Austin, Minn., was to begin graduate school and student teaching in Philadelphia in a few weeks. He was fatally shot about 1:30 a.m. as he walked home alone after working the late shift at a Starbucks coffee shop.

Homicide Sgt. Charles Coan said investigators are reviewing surveillance video. While no videos show the actual shooting, police have one image of Zabel moments before he was killed and views of others who were in the area at the time, he said.

Zabel left Starbucks at the end of his shift and was within a block of finishing his 1 1/2-mile walk home when he was attacked.

No one has been arrested, but Coan said police "are making progress." They are looking for a lone gunman, he said.

Zabel's roommate and co-workers told police that he "always had his iPod with him," Coan said.

He was found without it and with one pocket turned inside out. His backpack, with his wallet and money inside, was found at the scene, Coan said.

Coan said that while he'd never blame a victim for an attack, "you're kind of setting yourself up" for peril by wearing an iPod while walking alone at night. For one thing, "you can't hear anybody" when an iPod is playing, he said.

Area was considered safe

Zabel was robbed and shot in the Italian Market section of town, which generally is considered safe, police said.

Of Philadelphia's 392 homicides in 2007, five were in the district where Zabel was shot. Only two of the city's 23 police districts had fewer homicides.

Police spokeswoman Tanya Little said that most homicides in her city are carried out by people who "know who their target is."

"Something like this doesn't happen as often," she said.

Funeral plans incomplete

Zabel, who graduated from Austin High School in 2003 and from Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., last year with degrees in philosophy, Spanish and math, moved to Philadelphia in May. He was scheduled to begin graduate classes in education at Drexel University and student-teaching in a few weeks.

He was an Eagle Scout, a top student and a gentle, friendly soul whose dream was to live meaningfully and help others, his family said.

"We worried about him going to a big city, as I think any parent would worry," said Zabel's ex-stepfather, Terry Zabel of Chaska. "But that was what he wanted to do, and you weren't going to talk him out of it."

Starbucks, whose headquarters are in Seattle, issued a statement saying, "Our deepest sympathy goes to the family and friends" of Zabel.

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry T. Jordan called Zabel's death a "sad day for the teaching profession and for the children of Philadelphia," adding, "Zabel's desire to bring his tremendous talents to our students is a testament to the kind of young man he must have been, because it takes strength, compassion and dedication to come here to teach children so far from his home in Minnesota."

Funeral arrangements are pending with Worlein Funeral Home in Austin.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482