ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Murder charges have been filed in the shooting death of a woman early Monday in St. Cloud.
The St. Cloud Police Department said a 28-year-old St. Cloud woman died at the scene of a shooting on the 400 block of Lincoln Avenue Monday morning. In a press release by St. Cloud police, officers responded to reports of a shooting just before 7 a.m. on Oct. 24.
Police said a St. Cloud man, who was identified as a person of interest, was found and taken into custody at about 10 a.m. at a Sauk Rapids residence.
On Oct. 26, St. Cloud officials announced that the victim was identified as 28-year-old Nicole Michelle Hammond.
Later on Wednesday afternoon, police released the criminal complaint, which details the felony second-degree murder charge filed against 40-year-old Michael Jordan Carpenter of St. Cloud.
The statement of probable cause outlines that Carpenter knew the victim and declined his advances in texts sent the night before. She also told him "to not make things uncomfortable at work." In other messages police found on her phone, Hammond told someone else that Carpenter was mad at her.
Co-workers told officers that Hammond declined Carpenter's advances for the past month and that he was known for having a temper, according to the court document.
According to the complaint, officers responded to a report of a shot fired at a business on Lincoln Avenue and once there, officers found a female employee of the business, who was later identified as Nicole Hammond, laying in the parking lot with a pool of blood surrounding her head.
Nearby, officers found a driver's side car door open, with keys and a phone near her, the document claims. They also found a single shell casing close by.
During interviews with witnesses, Carpenter allegedly called one of them and said he already knew about the victim not showing up to work and getting shot. When the co-worker asked how Carpenter was doing, he allegedly said "he was not doing okay." Carpenter added that he was at his sister's house, and police then took him into custody at that location.
According to the complaint, Carpenter gave police "contradictory statements" about the timeline of events that morning and what he told to different people.
The autopsy found Hammond was shot once through the right side of her neck, the document says. The bullet was found in her left shoulder area.
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