Police: Mankato shooting victim was suspect's former wife

A man crashed his SUV into a car with a woman and three children inside at a Mankato park, then shot the woman, carjacked the SUV of a Good Samaritan who tried to help, and fled with the children in the stolen vehicle, authorities alleged Monday.

Police identified the shooting victim as 32-year-old Svetlana Vladimirovna Munt of Mankato. Authorities said she was the former wife of the 33-year-old Burnsville man they arrested after the shooting. He has not been formally charged.

Police said in a statement that officers responded to a call of shots fired just before noon Sunday at the Rasmussen Woods Nature Area. At the scene they found an SUV that had collided with a car and pinned it against some trees. The SUV's engine was running, the transmission was in gear, and a tire was spinning on the pavement, smoking as it disintegrated. Munt was found dead inside the car.

A person who saw the smoke had stopped to help, but the suspect stole that person's SUV and drove off, the statement said.

A short time later, a Blue Earth County sheriff's deputy who just happened to be in the right place at the right time stopped the vehicle on a dead-end gravel road, arrested the suspect without incident and recovered a gun, Capt. Rich Murry of the sheriff's department told reporters.

The suspect was being held on suspicion of second-degree murder and was expected to make his first court appearance Tuesday.

The three children were put in protective custody.