Man charged in lethal shooting of wife, 2 injured in Bloomington

Hennepin County prosecutors Tuesday charged a Bloomington man in connection with a shooting that left a woman dead and two neighbors — including a 12-year-old — wounded over the weekend.

Authorities say 48-year-old Jason Michael Mesich shot and killed his wife during an argument late Sunday at their home on 15th Avenue South.

Mesich also allegedly opened fire on his neighbors.

A 12-year-old girl was hit in the head and has not regained consciousness. The girl's adult sister suffered gunshot wounds to her legs and is in serious condition.

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Their mother told investigators that Mesich walked up suddenly and began shooting as the family was loading items into a U-Haul. They drove directly to the hospital with the trailer attached to their car. Prosecutors say others narrowly escaped the gunfire.

Mesich is charged with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder.

Police said officers were called to the home just after 11 p.m. Sunday and found a woman dead in the garage. Officers heard a man yelling in the house, but he refused to come out and fired multiple shots from inside, the department said. The officers arrested him early Monday.

The suspect was in the basement and uncooperative “for quite some time,” Police Chief Jeff Potts said. The man fired as many as 40 shots, the chief said. Officers returned fire but did not hit the suspect, he said.

“Our officers were working from outside the home trying to verbally negotiate, verbally de-escalate the situation literally in the face of gunfire,” Potts said. “Eventually the suspect … agreed to surrender and came out of the home.”