Man charged in law office shooting to make 1st court appearance

Ryan David Petersen
Ryan Petersen
Courtesy of Ramsey County Attorney's Office

A St. Paul man will make his first court appearance Monday on murder charges stemming from a shooting at a law office last week.

Prosecutors say 37-year-old Ryan David Petersen shot Chase Passauer six times while he sat in his desk chair. Passauer was a law clerk at North Star Criminal Defense in St. Paul.

Petersen was a client who was unhappy with his representation, according to the charges. He allegedly fired one of the lawyers in a text message and demanded his money back. Charges say when he didn't hear back, he went to the law office on Selby Avenue and fatally shot Passauer.

The 23-year-old was a recent University of Minnesota graduate. His LinkedIn profile says he had planned to go to law school hoping to become a lawyer himself. Passauer was also a mentor who traveled the country umpiring college baseball games.

Petersen has an extensive criminal history and was set to go to trial in June for assaulting a police officer last November.

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