No charges for officers in 2025 St. Paul Cub standoff
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office has ruled that three St. Paul officers who exchanged gunfire with 32‑year‑old Tevin Marcel Bellaphant before he died by suicide inside a Cub Foods on July 11, 2025 will not face criminal charges. A 15‑page memo, based on a Minnesota BCA investigation, concludes Sgt. Megan Kosloske and Officers Melissa Leistikow and Christopher Leon were legally justified in using force after Bellaphant allegedly fled a violent domestic assault and kidnapping, fired multiple shots at them inside an Aldi, then shot and wounded a mother and her son outside Destiny Café. Prosecutors say Bellaphant, armed with a black, unserialized 9mm pistol, fired a total of 20 rounds during the rampage before a 27‑minute standoff in the Cub where SWAT later found him dead of a self‑inflicted gunshot wound. The decision closes the criminal review of police conduct in a case that rattled shoppers and workers at two East Side grocery chains in the middle of the day and adds another data point in the ongoing debate over when Twin Cities prosecutors will charge officers in deadly encounters.
📌 Key Facts
- Ramsey County Attorney’s Office declined criminal charges against Sgt. Megan Kosloske and Officers Melissa Leistikow and Christopher Leon in the July 11, 2025 incident.
- Investigators say Tevin Marcel Bellaphant was fleeing an alleged violent felony domestic assault and kidnapping when he fired at officers inside an Aldi, then shot and wounded a mother and son near Destiny Café.
- Bellaphant carried a black 9mm pistol with no serial number that was fired 20 times before he died by suicide after a 27‑minute standoff inside a Cub Foods.
📊 Relevant Data
From 2010 to 2021, Black people, who make up 7% of Minnesota's population, accounted for 27% of deaths during police encounters.
Minnesotans of color more likely to die during police encounters, health department report finds — Sahan Journal
In 2020, African Americans made up 42% of those arrested for murder in Minnesota, despite comprising only 7% of the state's population.
The demographics of crime in Minnesota — Center of the American Experiment
Black Minnesotans are killed by police at a rate more than three times their proportion of the population.
State report: Black Minnesotans killed at disproportionate rate in fatal police encounters — MPR News
The racial distribution of St. Paul's population is approximately 53% White, 16% Black, 18% Asian, and 9% Hispanic.
St. Paul, MN Population by Race & Ethnicity - 2025 Update — Neilsberg
📰 Source Timeline (1)
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