Wednesday: 3 doused with gasoline in attack at Lake Elmo duplex

Masked men carrying guns burst in, attacked a man and fired a shot before fleeing. Three suspects were arrested within hours.

By JIM ADAMS, Star Tribune

Last update: November 21, 2008 - 12:14 PM

Two gun-toting masked men dressed in black from head to foot burst into a secluded Lake Elmo duplex Wednesday morning, doused a woman and two teenagers with gasoline, attacked a man and fired a shot before fleeing, authorities said.

The Washington County sheriff said he didn't think it was a random assault, and investigators are looking for a connection between the suspects and the four victims.

"Typically, these incidents are not random. Typically, there is a connection," Sheriff Bill Hutton said. "I suspect somewhere along the line we may find some type of connection, direct or indirect."

The 40-year-old woman in the duplex called police about 9:20 a.m. after the gunmen had fled and described their getaway car, Hutton said. Police spotted the car heading west on nearby Interstate 94 and quickly arrested three men in the car outside a Maplewood motel on Tanners Lake, Hutton said.

"We recovered a significant amount of evidence from their car that put them in the house," Hutton said, but he wouldn't reveal what was recovered.

The suspects, one believed to be the getaway driver who stayed in the car during the attack, are three St. Paul men, ages 23, 30 and 43, Hutton said. At least two have felony convictions. They were booked into the county jail Wednesday evening and face possible charges of aggravated robbery, first-degree assault and attempted homicide, Hutton said. He expects a charging decision by Friday.

Hutton said the gunmen threatened to set the three gasoline-soaked people afire or kill them outright if they didn't hand over what the robbers demanded, though he wouldn't say what that was. He also wouldn't say what prompted the assailants to break off their attack and leave after firing a shot and struggling with the 42-year-old man. The man was treated for a head injury at Regions Hospital and released.

"This is extremely unusual, especially for the Lake Elmo area," Hutton said. He said he had never heard of anyone in the area being doused with gasoline in his 25-year career.

Hutton didn't know how the victims were related, but he said the man lived with a 40-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl in half of the duplex. A 19-year-old man involved lived in the owner's half of the building.

The two-story white house, with two pillars missing in front, sits between a strip of woods and a farm field just north of I-94. The duplex, in the 200 block of Lake Elmo Avenue, is up a dirt driveway that passes a garage and ends at a pole barn with vehicles and equipment scattered about.

According to Hutton and to a list of calls provided by his office, deputies have responded to that half of the duplex many times in the past two years on complaints about assaults, disturbances, theft and an incident involving underage drinking.

Jim Adams • 612-673-7658