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Charges outline motivation behind Bloomington restaurant shooting

Aaron Le, of Lakeville, Minnesota, faces two second-degree murder charges after opening fire inside a restaurant on Nov. 23.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Investigators believe a fatal shooting inside Bloomington's Co Tu restaurant was motivated by jealousy, according to new information provided by court documents and Bloomington police.

Aaron Le, of Lakeville, Minnesota, is now facing two second-degree murder charges after opening fire inside the restaurant on Nov. 23. In a press conference Monday, Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said in the coming days, the department intends to up Le's charges to first-degree murder in an amended complaint, as he claims Le's actions were premeditated. 

According to the complaint, Le, 47, was recently divorced or in the process of getting divorced. Investigators learned Le's ex-wife was seeing a 49-year-old man who was a regular customer at Co Tu. Hodges revealed Le, his ex-wife and the shooting victim were all once classmates at the same college.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner identified the victim as 49-year-old Tu Anh Phan.

"He believed his ex-wife was having a relationship with the victim," Hodges said. "His ex-wife says she never did and we have no reason to not believe her."

Hodges also thanked witnesses who helped lead Kay County, Oklahoma authorities to Le, who took him into custody hours after the shooting.

"If not for witness testimony, the steps he [Le] took to get away, I don't know if we would have caught this guy," Hodges said. "He took every single step he could to get away."

On Wednesday, Nov. 23, Le entered the restaurant while wearing a mask that "imitated the facial features of an older male" and pointed a gun at the 49-year-old before he was chased out of the restaurant by other patrons, according to the complaint. Le then came back into the restaurant and shot the man multiple times in the abdomen, ultimately killing him.

Credit: Kay County, Oklahoma
Aaron Le

Investigators said Le had two guns on him at the time of the shooting. Hodges said one of the guns was found inside the restaurant.

Court documents explain that during their investigation, officers learned a report was filed with the FBI in August regarding a "'contract to kill' call between Le, the victim and Le's ex-wife."

After the shooting, which also injured a 25-year-old server, Le got into a white van and fled from the scene.

A witness told KARE 11 that he fought with the gunman but eventually stopped and ran out of the restaurant.

“First thought was this guy is crazy, get the gun away from him. Second thought was I can’t fight him, get the heck out of there,” he told KARE 11.

The witness said as he was running out of the restaurant he heard four to five shots inside the restaurant.

According to court documents, Le was pulled over in a white sprinter van that matched the van seen outside Co Tu. The van had no license plates on it and police found body armor vests and gloves inside the vehicle, the complaint said.

"Rest assured, the person that is responsible for this cold-blooded murder is in custody," Hodges said.

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