Authorities hadn't heard Lee Vang's name, much less considered him a suspect, until Evalyn Bheaanu pleaded guilty in August in connection with a shooting on St. Paul's East Side that injured a pregnant woman, her fetus and her boyfriend.

Bheaanu said she had been outside Andrea Benjamin's apartment door just after midnight May 18. But, she said, she hadn't fired through the metal door. Vang did that, because he was mad that Bheaanu had been beaten up and robbed, according to court documents.

Vang, 31, of St. Paul has been charged in Ramsey County District Court with three counts of second-degree assault.

Bheaanu pleaded guilty to three counts of aiding and abetting second-degree assault and was sentenced in October to concurrent 36-, 46- and 61-month sentences.

According to the criminal complaints, Bheaanu said she had spent the night of May 17 with a man named Mike in an apartment adjacent to Benjamin's. After Mike left, Bheaanu said, Benjamin and her boyfriend beat her up, and the boyfriend stole her money and cell phones.

The next night, Bheaanu went to Benjamin's apartment with Vang and pounded on the door. While Benjamin was on the phone to 911, six shots were fired through the door.

Benjamin later delivered a preterm baby boy. Both they and the male victim, Richard M. Brown, survived.

PAT PHEIFER