Bloomington restaurant shooting motivated by jealousy, charges say
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (FOX 9) - The man accused of shooting one person dead in a Bloomington, Minnesota restaurant and injuring another did so out of jealously, according to the charges filed against him.
The criminal complaint alleges Aaron Le shot two people, one fatally, during the lunch hour at the Co Tu Oriental Cuisine restaurant on Wednesday, November 23.
Le shot the two victims after entering the restaurant and walked to where the victim was sitting and pointed a gun at him. Le was chased out of the restaurant without firing his weapon by other patrons, but returned moments later, found the victim hiding behind the display case and shot him, according to the complaint.
Police say the victim was shot multiple times in the midsection and took one round to the head.
The victim who died in the shooting recently began seeing the estranged wife of Le and Le was jealous of his relationship, the charges say. They also mention the Federal Bureau of Investigation was contacted about of "contract to kill" call between Le and the victim.
Police arrested Le in Oklahoma after investigators were able to track his cell phone through Iowa and Kansas, before eventually finding him in a van registered in his name in Kay County, Oklahoma.
Police say Le took steps to prevent him from being caught.
"The suspect did such a good job of concealing his identity that none of the people in that restaurant knew who he was, despite the fact that a couple of them went to college with him," said Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges.
Police say Le was wearing a maroon hoodie, purple gloves, and a mask. He also had the gun inside a Ziploc bag.
"You come in there with surgical gloves, a mask," said Chief Hodges. "A hoodie and you come in there with weapons in a Ziploc bag, you are able to skillfully clear a weapons malfunction in a Ziploc bag with a person on your back. I mean, I think for those people who shoot a lot, they can understand like how difficult that is to do and how much you have to practice to actually be able to accomplish clear in a weapons malfunction in a Ziploc bag with someone on your back. I mean, it's that's extremely difficult for someone to do. So obviously, there was some planning that went into this."
Hodges thinks the Ziploc bag was an attempt by Le to keep DNA evidence off the gun and to catch shell casings.
Hodges says patrons ran to try and stop Le.
"He could have killed everybody in that restaurant," said the chief. "He literally could have killed everybody in that restaurant. And it was obvious he was there to go after one person and they put their lives on the line trying to protect one person. And that's something that is to be commended. And I'm pretty sure that, you know, they're going through their own trauma, too, from this."
Le is still in custody in Kay County.