MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – St. Paul police say they know who killed a young man at a popular family festival on Sunday. Officers say 27-year-old Nougai Xiong of St. Paul killed 19-year-old Jacky Vue. And they say 28-year-old Yang Houa Xiong of La Crosse, Wisconsin helped pull it off. It happened at the 38th Annual Hmong Freedom Festival at Como Park. “There were a lot of people family, young people, old people senior citizens just coming together to celebrate the culture and the things that make St. Paul great and then the shots rang out and people ran in all different directions,” Steve Linders with the St. Paul Police Department said. One of the nearly 40,000 people at the festival was bookstore owner Shoua Xiong. She was one of the vendors. “They ran to tell my other customers to say there is a shooting over there, that’s all I hear, I don’t really know what is going on,” Xiong said. She says the festival attracts visitors from around the country and the world and gunshots were very unexpected. St. Paul police say they hired security and were thorough, wanding people who passed through the gates. “While we along with security work hard to keep it secure, a space that big, with that many people coming and going, we don’t know how the gun got in right now, we don’t know if it was put there before hand, if someone passed it through during the event,” Linders said. Officers trying to figure out the details are asking that anyone with video from the time of the shooting to share it in hopes of figuring out how a joyful tradition, is now marked by grief. “Taking of one life, it wasn’t worth it,” Xiong said. Police say if you or someone you know does have cell phone video, they are asking them to call the homicide department directly at (651) 266-5650. The St. Paul Police Department gave us this statement on security: Overall Safety and Security: The Saint Paul Police Department works closely with the organizers in the months and weeks prior to the event to make sure we’re doing everything possible to make it as safe as possible. In fact, the commander who oversees our involvement met with organizers on each of the three previous Saturdays to go over plans and make sure all security practices and protocols were in place. The event organizers have worked hard to make sure it’s a family-friendly event, where all are welcome. Last year, for example, officers responded to only one fight call — which occurred during a soccer match and was broken up quickly. This year, prior to the shooting, there had been two fights, and both were quickly broken up. Safety and Security Measures: The Saint Paul Police Department had 23 off-duty officers working the event. This included two commanders. The contract requires the event organizers to have on-duty, professional security guards at the gates (with wands) throughout the event. Security is required to be on scene 24-hours-a-day through the event. In addition, volunteers go through bags at each entrance. I’m told volunteers go through extensive training.”<doc-sep>As family members mourned the 19-year-old who was fatally shot at Sunday’s Hmong Freedom Festival in St. Paul, they also looked for answers on Monday. With security guards using metal-detector wands and volunteers searching bags, how did someone get a gun into the event that drew 39,000 people, Jacky G. Vue’s relatives asked. “And of all the people that were there, why Jacky?,” asked a brother-in-law, Moua Yang. Police announced Monday they arrested two men soon after the Sunday afternoon shooting at Como Regional Park. They have not released information about a potential motive. The festival celebrates Hmong culture, food and sports. Twenty-two years ago, three young men were shot and wounded at the event and people were injured in stabbings in 2012, but Vue’s death appears to be the first homicide in the event’s 38-year history. City Council President Amy Brendmoen, who represents the area, said she has been attending the festival with her family for nearly a decade and has found it to be “a beautiful, peaceful celebration of sport and culture.” “It’s infuriating to me that someone would bring a gun into an event like this and recklessly put so many peoples’ lives at risk,” Brendmoen said. “… My heart goes out to the family of the victim and to all the festival-goers who were impacted by this devastating incident.” JUST GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL, STARTED WORK Jacky Vue grew up in St. Paul, the youngest of nine siblings. He graduated from Gordon Parks High School in St. Paul last month. Vue started work last week as a temp at medical-device maker Medtronic, said Yang, his brother-in-law who helped him get the job. “He was very dependable … he was very protective of his family, too,” Yang said. Vue’s father is in poor health and Vue wanted to become his personal care attendant to assist his mother, said a sister, Yer Vue. He was also looking into attending college and talked to Yang about potentially becoming a software engineer. Jacky Vue enjoyed playing soccer with friends and watching the game at the Hmong Freedom Festival, his sister said. She and Yang said they don’t know recognize the names of the men arrested, and they don’t understand why Jacky Vue would have been shot at the tournament. “It feels like they kind of failed at being able to secure everybody’s safety,” Yang said. The St. Paul Police Department works closely with the event’s organizers in the months leading up to it “to make sure we’re doing everything possible to make it as safe as possible,” said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman. ” … The event organizers have worked hard to make sure it’s a family-friendly event, where all are welcome.” Linders said he didn’t have information about how someone got a gun into the event. The United Hmong Family Inc., which hosts the event, said in a Monday statement: “No words can explain the emotions and trauma experienced by our community, at large. At this time, our hearts and healing are with the affected family and any friends and/or relatives close to the individual.” GUNFIRE IN A BUSY AREA The shooting of Jacky Vue happened about 4:30 p.m. Sunday in a crowded area of McMurray Field where vendors had set up their booths. On- and off-duty St. Paul police officers who were working the event ran toward the scene, where they found Vue. He was shot twice in the torso and died during surgery at Regions Hospital. Officers located Nougai Xiong, 27, of St. Paul, and Yang Houa Xiong, 28, of La Crosse, Wis., in the area after the shooting, Linders said. Nougai Xiong was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder and for an outstanding warrant. Yang Houa Xiong was arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting murder. People who were attending the festival have provided police with video from “the moments after the incident,” Linders said. “Investigators believe there are people who may have captured the moments before and during on video,” he said. “It’s very important that we get this so that we can hold the people who did this accountable for their actions.” Police are asking anyone with video to contact them at (651) 266-5650. SUSPECTS HAVE CRIMINAL RECORDS IN WISCONSIN Gang officers were patrolling at the festival and Linders said he was unaware of any signs of trouble prior to the Sunday afternoon shooting. Whether the shooting was gang related is under investigation, Linders said. Nougai Xiong, one of the men arrested, is on community supervision after serving prison time for two La Crosse County cases. In 2013, a Wisconsin prosecutor noted Nougai Xiong’s lengthy criminal record and gang connections, though Xiong said he had severed his gang ties, according to a La Crosse Tribune article. A jury found him guilty of fleeing an officer in a vehicle, and resisting or obstructing an officer. Nougai Xiong was released from prison in July 2016 and absconded from supervision last September, according to a Wisconsin Department of Corrections spokesman. He was charged last July with obstructing an officer in Dunn County, and resisting or obstructing an officer in La Crosse County in August. In 2009, Yang Xiong was sentenced to three years of probation for attempted battery to law officers/firefighters, according to a Wisconsin court record. Minnesota court records show no convictions on Jacky Vue’s record. He was charged in January 2017 with possession of a pistol without a permit after St. Paul police stopped a vehicle that Vue was a passenger in and officers found a loaded gun in the driver’s side door, but the case against him was dismissed. TWO FIGHTS, ASSAULT APPARENTLY UNRELATED TO SHOOTING There were two fights at the Hmong Freedom Festival this year — one on the football field and one in a food area — and they didn’t appear related to the shooting, Linders said. He said they were quickly broken up and there were no serious injuries.<doc-sep>article Two men were charged Tuesday in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man at the Hmong Freedom Festival in Como Regional Park Sunday afternoon. Nougai Xiong, 27, of St. Paul is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and Yang Houa Xiong, 28, of La Crosse, Wisconsin is charged with aiding and abetting. Both men were located a short time after the shooting near the scene of the crime. The shooting occurred around 4:42 p.m. According to the charges, two gangs were reportedly fighting one another with umbrellas at the festival when shots were fired. Officers who were at the festival converged on the area when they heard gunfire. The officers located the victim, identified as Jacky Vue of St. Paul, with at least one gunshot wound. He was taken to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. Witnesses identified Nougai and Yang as the two suspects. One witness, an admitted gang member who was involved in the fight, said the fight occurred because the suspects were in one gang and he and his group were in another. After their arrest, Nougai and Yang, who are cousins, told police they were walking around together at the festival when a group of men approached them and asked what gang they were in. Yang told them they were not in a gang, although he told police Nougai was in fact in a gang, but the men began hitting them with umbrellas and threatened to kill them. Yang told police Nougai then took out his gun and shot one of the men a couple of times. The two then took off running. Advertisement In his interview with police, Nougai denied being a gang member or having a gun and said he did not know who was shooting.<doc-sep>UPDATE: Two have been arrested in the shooting death. A man was fatally shot Sunday afternoon at the 38th Hmong Freedom Festival at Como Regional Park in St. Paul, police said. The shooting took place about 4:30 p.m. in a crowded area of McMurray Field where vendors had set up their booths, said Steve Linders, a spokesman for the St. Paul Police Department. On- and off-duty St. Paul police officers who were working the event ran toward the scene, where they found a man in his late teens suffering from two gunshot wounds to his torso, Linders said. The man was taken to Regions Hospital, where he died during surgery. The Ramsey County medical examiner’s office will identify him. Police have not yet made any arrests, Linders said. The weekend-long festival, which drew 39,000 people to the park this year, celebrates Hmong culture, food and sports. “This is what’s great about St. Paul — celebrating its diversity,” Linders said. “It’s unthinkable that somebody would shoot a gun at a festival. We’re lucky that more people weren’t injured.” I can’t think of too many things more frightening, especially if you have your kids with you.” Investigators brought several witnesses to police headquarters for interviews. They are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call 651-266-5650. Festivalgoers posted videos of the scene on Facebook after the shooting. The Hmong TV Network also posted a video. On the festival’s Facebook page, commenters demanded to know how a gun made it past the event’s security measures. Signs forbidding guns at the festival were posted on the festival grounds, Linders said. Related Articles Disgruntled worker who killed 9 appeared to target victims 9-year-old girl dies 12 days after being shot in Minneapolis, police say Five members of the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office leading criminal justice reform Trump supporter who assaulted elderly couple over political sign pleads guilty Woodbury: Mother charged with second-degree attempted murder “I don’t think anybody expects to go to a family event and have this happen,” he said. “I can’t think of too many things more frightening, especially if you have your kids with you.” The festival has also occasionally been marred by violence in past years; three people were shot during the event in 1996, and three people were stabbed in 2012. Sunday’s shooting was St. Paul’s seventh homicide of 2018.<doc-sep>
Two men have been charged in connection with a weekend homicide at the Hmong Freedom Festival. ST. PAUL, Minn. - Two men have been charged in connection with a weekend homicide at the Hmong Freedom Festival in Como Regional Park. Nougai Xiong, 27, of St. Paul, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder (with intent-not premeditated; without intent-while committing a felony) in the shooting death of 19-year-old Jacky G. Vue, of St. Paul. According to the complaint, on Sunday evening, there were reports of young men at the festival fighting with umbrellas. Gunshots later rang out and police who were at the festival converged on the area. They found Vue suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken to Regions Hospital where he later died. Investigators interviewed several witnesses, including known gang members, and later located Nougai Xiong and Yang Xiong. Both matched the descriptions provided by witnesses. Yang Xiong originally told police he was walking with his cousin, Nougai Xiong, when a group of men asked them what gang they were in. Yang told them they were not in a gang, but the group approached the two cousins and began punching and kicking them. Yang said they were able to get away from the group and ran out of the gate. Yang eventually told police he recognized several of the men who assaulted them as belonging to the Oroville Mono Boys gang from Wisconsin. Officers arrested both men. During a police interview, Yang Xiong said he saw a group of people at the festival he thought he recognized from an incident in Wausau, Wisconsin two months earlier. He said they accused him of being in the Purple Brothers gang. He said he wasn't in a gang, but admitted to investigators Nougai Xiong was an Asian Crip. According to the charges, Yang told investigators two men hit both the cousins with umbrellas and threatened to kill them. Yang said Nougai Xiong took his gun out and shot one of the men a couple of times. Yang Xiong added the two ran off. He said Nougai hid the gun under a pine tree and tossed him his shirt. Nougai Xiong admitted there was some sort of altercation at the festival, but denied to investigators that he had a gun, was involved in the shooting or that he is a gang member. Yang Xiong, 28, of La Crosse, Wis. is charged with aiding an offender.