Facebook Marketplace Meetup In Blaine Ends With 1 Killed

BLAINE, MN — A second-degree murder charge has been filed in the hit-and-run death Wednesday of a man trying to get back items that were stolen from his store and being offered for sale on Facebook Marketplace, authorities said.

Pierre Jerel Anderson, 30, of St. Paul is accused of running over a pedestrian before fleeing the scene.

Just after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Blaine police and firefighters were dispatched to the parking lot of a store in the 1500 block of 109th Avenue Northeast.

Officers provided emergency medical aid to the victim, identified as Kenneth Alan Niesen, 58, of Brooklyn Park. Niesen was taken by Allina Ambulance to Mercy Hospital, where he died, authorities said.

Anderson was later located by Anoka County deputies and was taken into custody after a foot pursuit, authorities said.

According to a criminal complaint, Niesen owned a business in St. Paul that had been burglarized Wednesday evening. Items apparently stolen during the burglary were listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace, according to police.

Niesen and some of his associates arranged a meeting with the Facebook Marketplace "seller" at the parking lot, police said.

Police said surveillance video showed Niesen and his associates went to the parking lot in two vehicles. The "seller" then arrived in a white GMC Yukon.

According to the criminal complaint, one of Niesen's associates got out, looked into the Yukon and saw items believed to have been stolen from the business.

Niesen and others pulled up in the second vehicle and partially blocked the Yukon, police said, and they approached the Yukon on foot.

As they were approaching, the Yukon drove around Niesen vehicle's, accelerated rapidly and ran over Niesen, police said.

Anderson and the Yukon were located later that night at a Speedway in Ham Lake, police said. Officers and a police K-9 apprehended him after he fled on foot, the complaint states.

If convicted on the charge, Anderson faces up to 40 years in prison.