Stabbing rampage in Twin Cities apartment hall killed man, badly injured teen, prosecutors say

A man went on a stabbing rampage in the hall of a Twin Cities apartment complex that killed one victim and wounded another before he fled north and was captured later that morning, according to charges filed on Jan. 12.

Jonathon Michael Kaupa, 31, was charged in Ramsey County District Court with second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder in connection with the death of John Ramon Tongson, 44, and the wounding of a teen on Jan. 10 at the Equinox Apartments in St. Anthony.

Kaupa remains held in lieu of $5 million bail ahead of a Jan. 15 court appearance. The Minnesota Star Tribune has reached out to his attorney for a response to the allegations.

The criminal complaint described Kaupa as a maintenance worker for the apartment complex. The charges, however, did not offer a motive for the stabbings.

According to the complaint and the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office:

Officers were summoned shortly before 5 a.m. to the apartment complex in the 2800 block of Silver Lane Drive and found Tongson in a third-floor hall with stab wounds to his neck and all over his upper body. He was “obviously dead,” the charges read.

The officers determined there was a struggle that left blood spatter on the walls and the doors of nearby apartments.

The girl said she, her brother and Tongson were asleep in the apartment and heard sawing noises at their door. The brother and Tongson went into the hall, and the girl soon heard screams. She then called 911.

The siblings’ mother said the family put a camera in the hall because someone put glue in their door frame. The camera was damaged and had to be replaced, said the mother, who disclosed that Kaupa did maintenance at the apartment complex.

A rideshare driver told police that Kaupa got in her vehicle and directed her to take him to his parents’ St. Paul home. She said she became suspicious of him for several reasons, including that he had a bag with him that appeared to contained a rope and blood-stained clothes.

Back at the apartment complex, Kaupa’s father showed up looking for him. He said his son has been hospitalized twice for mental health problems, most recently in March.

The man said his son arrived about 6 a.m. at the St. Paul home, said he was having car problems and borrowed his father’s vehicle. The father said he thought Kaupa was heading to the family’s cabin in Two Harbors.

The Sheriff’s Office said a deputy saw the father’s vehicle about 9 a.m. in Duluth’s Lakeside neighborhood and attempted to pull over the driver. Kaupa sped away on North Shore Drive before crashing near the intersection of North Shore Drive and Homestead Road.

A deputy was slightly injured after colliding with Kaupa’s vehicle, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Kaupa ran from the wreck but was soon captured and turned over to St. Anthony police.