A dispute over a parking garage contract ended with three apartment employees shot dead inside a Minnesota leasing office.
Quick Take
- St. Paul man Tsegaab Binessu, 30, faces three counts of second-degree murder after a shooting at Davern Park Apartments.
- Charges say Binessu was told he could not cancel his parking garage lease, then allegedly opened fire on staff.
- Police say surveillance video captured the shooting, and a criminal complaint alleges Binessu confessed to his roommate.
- Deputies arrested him overnight in Virginia, Minnesota, hours after the killings.
What Charging Documents Say Happened
Officers rushed to the Davern Park Apartments on St. Paul Avenue Monday afternoon after reports of gunfire inside the leasing office. Charges filed in Ramsey County name three victims: Nansi Fuentes Zambrano, Dena Silcox, and Adam Wilwerding, all apartment complex staff members.
Court documents allege Binessu had just been told he could not cancel his recently renewed parking garage contract before the shooting began.
Disgruntled tenant ‘executed’ 3 leasing office workers over parking garage dispute, police say https://t.co/CdYT7wDnLr
— Live5News (@Live5News) July 22, 2026
Prosecutors describe the killings in blunt terms. Court documents allege Binessu “executed” the three victims, according to reporting from Minnesota Public Radio. That word choice matters. It signals prosecutors believe this was not a chaotic outburst but a targeted, deliberate act carried out against people he blamed for refusing his request.
Confession, Video, and an Overnight Arrest
A criminal complaint filed against Binessu says he confessed to killing the two women and the man to his roommate after leaving the scene, according to KROC News.
The same charges state the shooting was captured on surveillance video inside the leasing office, giving prosecutors a visual record to pair with the alleged confession. That combination, video plus an admission, gives this case an unusually direct evidence trail before trial even begins.
Police identified Binessu as their suspect and tracked him north. He was taken into custody overnight by the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, Minnesota, roughly 200 miles from the shooting scene. He now sits in the Ramsey County Jail on probable cause murder charges, formally facing three counts of second-degree murder.
Why a Parking Contract Turned Deadly
Minnesota law gives landlords real limits on how they can remove tenants, and it gives tenants specific legal paths to end a lease early, mainly tied to safety concerns rather than convenience. A parking garage contract dispute does not fall under those protections.
When a tenant is told a signed contract stands regardless of preference, that answer can feel final and infuriating, even though it reflects ordinary property management, not any wrongdoing by staff.
That gap between what a tenant wants and what a lease legally allows shows up in rental offices across the country every day. Almost none of those conversations end in violence. This case stands out precisely because prosecutors allege the frustration escalated from an administrative refusal to a fatal act within the same building, against the very employees who delivered the answer.
Prosecutors have charged a Saint Paul man with three counts of second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of three people inside the leasing office of a Highland Park apartment complex, a killing they say followed a dispute over a parking-garage contract.
Tsegaab Ademassu… pic.twitter.com/uc4sj4tHRc
— MN CRIME (@MN_CRIME) July 21, 2026
Court records list the charges as second-degree murder with intent but not premeditation on all three counts, a distinction some online commentators have already questioned given the allegation that Binessu walked to the leasing office with a firearm after being denied his cancellation.
Whether prosecutors amend those charges as the case moves through Ramsey County court will depend on what the full complaint, video, and forensic evidence ultimately show.
What Still Needs to Be Confirmed
Much of what the public knows right now comes from press summaries of charging documents, not the full complaint itself. Reporters have not yet published the complete probable-cause affidavit, the surveillance footage, or the roommate’s underlying statement.
Those records will matter greatly once the case reaches trial, since they will show exactly what evidence supports the intent and premeditation questions at the heart of the charges.
For now, the established facts are sobering enough without embellishment. Three apartment workers went to their jobs Monday afternoon and did not come home. A tenant upset about a parking contract stands charged with their murders.
Ramsey County prosecutors will carry the burden of proving that chain of events in court, where allegations become evidence tested under oath rather than headlines.
Sources:
nypost.com, krocnews.com, local12.com, mprnews.org, cbsnews.com
