Minn. teen charged in Iowa store shooting

Authorities on Tuesday charged a Minnesota teenager with murdering two convenience store clerks at separate stores in northern Iowa.

Michael Richard Swanson, a 17-year-old from St. Louis Park, Minn., was charged as an adult with two counts each of first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in separate slayings at stores in Kossuth and Humboldt counties.

Kossuth County Attorney Todd Holmes said during a news conference in Algona that Swanson walked into the Crossroads Gas Station on U.S. Highway 18 in Algona just after 9 p.m. Monday wearing a ski mask and demanded cash and cigarettes from the clerk, 47-year-old Vicky Bowman-Hall. She complied with the request, but Swanson shot her anyway and she died at a nearby hospital, Holmes said.

About an hour later, Swanson walked into a Kum and Go convenience store in Humboldt, about 30 miles south of Algona and shot and killed Sheila Myers, 61, who died at the scene, Holmes said.

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Swanson, who was driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee, was arrested at a McDonald's in Webster City, about 60 miles from where the first shooting occurred. He was being held in the Kossuth County jail in Algona and was expected to make an initial court appearance later Tuesday.

"Anytime something like this strikes a community, there is a wake up call that no matter where you are or what you're doing that safety is your top priority," Holmes said.

Holmes said it appears Swanson acted alone and that no link was found between the stores where the shootings occurred.

The Associated Press submitted a request to speak to Swanson with the county sheriff, who oversees the jail. Jail officials said they did not know whether Swanson had an attorney.

Autopsies were pending at the state medical examiner's office in Ankeny.

Holmes declined to disclose some details about the shootings, including whether investigators found the gun used in the attacks; whether there were others in the stores at the time of the shootings; whether Swanson had been using drugs or alcohol; or why Swanson was in Iowa.

If convicted of the first-degree murder, Swanson would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)