On the evening of October 12, 1993, 19-year-old Kai Lor, a Hmong male, was shot and killed in St. Paul during an attempted robbery at the Hampden Food Cooperative. An off-duty St. Paul police officer, David Timm, who was in the store, intervened; both Lor and an accomplice, Bruce Teng Thao, were shot and killed during the confrontation. A third participant, 16-year-old Pha Vang, was arrested and later pleaded guilty to his role.

A Ramsey County grand jury reviewed Officer Timm’s actions and returned a No Bill, declining to indict. Members of the Hmong Social Justice Committee publicly challenged that outcome, pointing to conflicting reports about whether a weapon carried by the young men had been fired and questioning the nature of Kai Lor’s injuries, which community members said warranted further scrutiny. Kai Lor was the uncle of 13-year-old Ba See Lor, who had been killed in a separate police-involved shooting a few years earlier.

Does anyone have additional information about the scene, witness accounts, or the medical findings in Kai Lor’s case?