Machete-Wielding STP Man Causes Fatal Crash, Smashes Garage: Cops

SAINT PAUL, MN — A 41-year-old man died in Saint Paul last week after a driver fleeing police crashed into his car before hitting a garage on Sherburne Avenue in Frogtown, according to investigators. Just before midnight Friday, officers were called to an apartment on the 800 block of Blair Avenue for a reported "domestic situation."

A woman told authorities her boyfriend — Shawn Michael Konder, 26 — was fighting with her teenage son. She said her boyfriend had a machete and tried to stab her son with it.

Konder took the machete and left in a van "driving at a high rate of speed" through nearby alleys without headlights on, at one point nearly colliding with a squad car, police said.

Officers activated emergency lights but Konder "did not stop and quickly disappeared out of site," according to authorities. Moments later, officers heard a crash on the 800 block of Sherburne Avenue.

Konder smashed into a garage before attempting to flee on foot but was arrested, investigators said.

Officers found a "gravely injured" man in another vehicle that collided with Konder's van. The victim was transported to Regions Hospital where he died.

Saint Paul police are investigating the incident.