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.
Both remain in the Ramsey County Jail.
