A 31-year-old ex-con with a history of shedding blood in the name of gang violence was charged Thursday with pulling up in a car outside a St. Paul bar and fatally shooting a man in the head while wounding two others.

True Thao of St. Paul was charged in Ramsey County District Court with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder in the death of Adlai Xiong, 27, of Minneapolis.

Xiong was shot early Saturday outside the Moonshine Saloon on E. 7th Street in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood and taken to Regions Hospital, where he died. The two other victims were recovering from their wounds.

According to the criminal complaint, Xiong and two other people were walking outside the bar when a car pulled up about 15 to 20 feet from them. Thao allegedly rolled down the window, stuck out a gun and opened fire.

One of the people who was wounded, who identified herself as a cousin of Xiong's, told authorities that he was part of the Oroville Mono Boys gang. Another witness said he saw Xiong in the bar, and investigators also learned that members of the ORB, MAB and 612 gangs were in the bar that evening.

Thao remains jailed. His criminal history includes an attempted-murder conviction for shooting a rival gang member. He was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison and freed on supervised release in August 2010. He was to remain under terms of the release until September 2015.

Xiong reportedly was a regular at the bar. He worked in production at Roseville-based toner cartridge provider LaserFax for five years, general manager Joe Barrett said.

There have been about 45 police calls at the bar so far this year, said police Sgt. Paul Paulos. On Feb. 23, a 28-year-old St. Paul man died of stab wounds in a fight at the bar. That case has yet to be solved.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482