Prosecutors charge St. Paul man with arson, recklessly firing gun

Ramsey County prosecutors have charged a St. Paul man with arson and reckless discharge of a firearm after he allegedly set his apartment on fire and shot through the door because he thought several men were trying to break in.

Firefighters arrived at an apartment fire July 20 in the 1100 block of Mackubin Street to find Leon Edward Mastel, 26, escaping the fire.

According to the criminal complaint, Mastel told investigators that he heard men coming into his apartment and thought his ex-girlfriend had sent them to try to kill him. He said he fired a shotgun multiple times through his bedroom door. When he could still hear them coming in, he told police, he shot again.

"He thought they were still coming into his room so he soaked a notebook in cologne and aftershave and lit it on fire with a lighter," the complaint said. "He threw boxes of facial tissue and a pillow on top of it and it started to burn."

Mastel grabbed his samurai sword to try to open the bedroom door but it was too hot, the complaint said. He told police he was going to "shoot it out" with the men in his apartment, but when the smoke got too thick he shot the window to break it open and jumped to escape the fire.

No one was shot. Emergency personnel transported Mastel to St. Joseph's Hospital for smoke inhalation.

Police did not find the men Mastel said were trying to break in.