At age 18 and six months removed from her high school graduation, Jayden Lee Kline was trying to figure out what she wanted to do next with her life.

But she never got that chance, her mother said, because Fenan Abdurezak Uso “played out this act of murder as a result of what he could no longer get from Jayden.”

Uso, then 17, planned to kill Kline after she ended their relationship, prosecutors said last month during his jury trial in Anoka County District Court. He bought a stolen handgun the night before, told her he’d take her shopping and then shot her in his car outside her Fridley home.

Jurors agreed and found the 19-year-old guilty of first-degree murder for shooting Kline the afternoon of Dec. 21, 2023, rejecting his claim that she was shot accidentally.

Jayden Lee Kline (Courtesy of Curt Gray)

On Wednesday, Judge Jenny Walker Jasper handed down Uso’s mandatory sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole. He will be eligible for parole in 15 years, under a 2023 state law regarding juveniles certified as adults and serving a life sentence.

“As a judge, I always sit and think of something that I can say that will have an impact on this to lighten the load of grief for the family and the community and friends,” Walker Jasper said. “But this case is just so senseless and violent and tragic and sad. All I can say to you folks is, I am so sorry.”

Uso, of Fridley, was charged by juvenile petition with second-degree murder five days after the killing. A jury indicted him on a charge of first-degree murder in July 2024, four months after he turned 18.

‘I look for her every day’

Kline’s mother and her two older brothers told the court how the family struggles every day with with the pain of her killing.

“My sister should have had the opportunity to leave her mark on the world,” her brother Tristan Kline said. “Because I know she would’ve helped change it.”

Brandon Kline said he always made sure that his sister was safe and taken care of, ever since they lost their father, David, in 2014, when she was 8.

“I owed that to my dad, who couldn’t take care of her anymore,” he wrote in a statement, which was read by Assistant Anoka County Attorney Brenda Sund.

Uso is “an incredibly selfish and greedy human being,” Kline wrote, adding that Uso “always had a problem with Jayden’s attention being on anyone but himself.”

Jennifer Kline said her daughter “completed our family in many ways” and had an outgoing, friendly personality. She was a 2023 graduate of Columbia Heights High School, where she competed on the swim and synchronized swimming teams, and loved to spend time with her friends, playing games, watching movies, making videos and just hanging out.

“I look for her every day,” she said, “waiting for her to come bouncing down the hall from her bedroom, usually being followed by her dog and cat.”

A gunshot rang out

According to charging documents, police and emergency workers were sent to the 4500 block of Third Street Northeast just before 4 p.m. Dec. 21, 2023, on a report of a hit-and-run crash that injured a pedestrian. Kline was found lying unresponsive in the street near her home’s driveway with a head wound. She was pronounced dead at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale.

Kline’s mother told police her daughter had been at the Roseville mall that afternoon.

Fenan Abdurezak Uso (Courtesy of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office)

Brandon Kline told police he heard a loud noise, looked out a window and saw his sister on the ground. He said he was told by a neighbor that a gold minivan sped away from the scene and that he assumed she had been struck.

He said his sister and Uso had dated on and off for about a year and that she had recently broken up with him because he lied to his family about the relationship.

A neighbor’s doorbell camera showed a gold minivan slowly approaching the home and stopping. A gunshot rang out, the front passenger door opened and Kline fell out and was not moving. Her brother confirmed to police that it was Uso’s minivan.

Investigators later determined she had been shot in the back of the head at close range.

Police tracked the location of Uso’s phone, learned he was in the Burnsville area and notified city police, who located the minivan at a gas station about 6:30 p.m. Officers saw a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun in the minivan’s center console, and Uso was detained.

In an interview with investigators, Uso said he and Kline had broken up two weeks prior. He said they got into an argument at the mall. He said “he thought he pulled out the gun” when dropping her off at her house, “pointed it at her, pulled the trigger once and drove off fast,” the charges read.

Uso said he drove away quickly because “he realized he did something dumb” and “was shaking as he drove away and dropped the gun in the van.”

Uso went on to say he had obtained the handgun from “unknown persons” the day before. Police said the serial number matched a gun stolen in Marshalltown, Iowa.

‘Great big, beautiful smile’

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Uso testified at his trial that he had been distraught after their breakup. He said Kline was shot accidentally when she grabbed the gun to try to stop him from killing himself.

But Uso knew what he did, Kline’s brother Brandon said Wednesday in his victim impact statement, “and sat on the stand, lying and being a coward again, saying he wanted to kill himself.”

Uso, when given the opportunity to address the court, said: “I just want to say I’m extremely sorry from the bottom of my heart for Jayden’s family.”

Judge Walker Jasper, before imposing the sentence, recalled a photo of Kline that was introduced as an exhibit during the trial, showing her “great big, beautiful smile that she had.”

By MIKE STOBBE

NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers on Wednesday reported two promising new approaches to counteract malaria’s growing resistance to medication — one involving a new class of drugs.

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Switzerland-based Novartis released results of what it called a next-generation treatment. A study of its experimental drug in 12 African countries found it works well against the mosquito-borne parasite that causes malaria and seems to block spread.

The drug, called GanLum, is not yet licensed and more than a year away from being available.

It’s needed, said Dr. David Sullivan, a malaria expert at Johns Hopkins University.

The parasite that causes the disease is developing resistance to existing drugs, meaning “the ice is thinning,” Sullivan said. “It hasn’t given way, but we’re concerned.”

GanLum has been given as a packet of tiny powder-like granules, once daily for three days. But getting people to take malaria drugs over several days has been challenging — some stop after one or two doses makes them feel better. Experts say a third or more of malaria patients fail to complete the current standard three-day treatment course, a problem that can encourage drug resistance and allow curable cases to intensify.

In an effort to offer a one-time treatment, another team of researchers said an experiment in West Africa found a single dose of four widely available malaria drugs proved to be an effective cure.

The two studies were presented Wednesday at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference in Toronto.

Parasite has repeatedly developed drug resistance

Malaria is caused by a parasite that spreads through mosquito bites. Infected people can suffer fever, chills and flu-like illness that, if left untreated, can lead to severe complications and death. It’s mainly found in tropical and subtropical climates. The largest death toll in recent years has been seen in children in sub-Saharan Africa.

The medical battle against malaria has ebbed and flowed, as new drugs come along, but the parasite gradually develops the ability to resist them.

At the beginning of this century, for example, resistance to the drug chloroquine was widespread and malaria killed more than 1.8 million people per year. But then came a class of drugs known as artemisinins, which worked well and helped drive a dramatic decline in global malaria death rates.

Artemisinin-based compounds remain the first-line treatment in most cases. But signs of partial resistance have been reported, and — for several reasons — malaria death rates have plateaued or even started to rise in some parts of the world.

Study tested 4-drug combo

Dr. Ghyslain Mombo-Ngoma led a study in Gabon in which researchers gave a single-dose treatment combining an artemisinin with three other antimalarial medications — pyronaridine, sulfadoxine, and pyrimethamine.

From May 2024 to October 2025, he and his colleagues treated more than 1,000 patients, half of them younger than 10, who were sick with malaria but not suffering life-threatening symptoms. A little over half got the four-drug, one-time treatment. The rest got a standard, artemisinin-based treatment.

Blood tests 28 days later showed 93% of patients who received the one-time treatment were free of parasites compared with 90% who received the standard three-day course.

Mombo-Ngoma said there are discussions underway with a drug manufacturer to produce a single capsule or packet of pills to help create an inexpensive, easy-to-take cure.

Sullivan, however, noted that resistance is already established to some components of the treatment, meaning it likely will prove to be “a short-term fix.”

Experimental treatment shows promise

Novartis’ GanLum is a combination of a new drug, ganaplacide, and an existing long-acting medication, lumefantrine.

In a study involving about 1,700 adults and children in 12 African countries, GanLum was found to have a cure rate of better than 97%, which was a little higher than a common artemisinin-based treatment. It was also highly effective against mutant malaria parasites with partial drug resistance, Novartis officials said.

Side effects included fever and anemia — similar to what’s seen in patients who take some of the current antimalarials, Novartis officials said. There was a higher level of vomiting right after the drug was given, which company officials say may stem from its taste. The company is exploring flavoring or sweetening, a spokesman said.

Novartis officials said they are working toward regulatory approvals. George Jagoe of the Medicines for Malaria Venture, which collaborated with Novartis, said he hopes to see GanLum begin rolling out to patients within 18 months.

The new treatment approaches can complement other efforts against malaria, including treated mosquito bed nets and new vaccines, said Dr. Andrea Bosman, a malaria expert with the World Health Organization.

But the promising news comes at a time when funding from the United States and some other sources is being cut, which could impact the ability of scientists to monitor drug resistance or make prevention and treatments available to people who need them, Bosman noted.

“The eyes on the problem are going to be blinded” as aid to malaria-stricken countries declines, he said.

The Associated Press receives financial support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Gates Foundation, among others. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

The St. Paul City Council unanimously approved an ordinance regulating firearms Wednesday, saying they want to be ready to put it in place if state law changes.

Minutes after, the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus filed a lawsuit against the city, as the group had said it would if the ordinance was enacted.

Last month, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and suburban mayors called again on the state to repeal a preemption law that bars cities and counties from regulating firearms, ammunition or their components.

St. Paul City Council members and other officials said they want to put in place local firearm-related ordinances to reduce violence since the Minnesota legislature and federal lawmakers haven’t taken action, particularly since the Aug. 27 shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis that killed two children and injured dozens more.

The St. Paul ordinance says it “is designed to take effect only upon the repeal, amendment, or judicial invalidation of state preemption laws that currently prohibit local regulation of firearms, ensuring legal enforceability while signaling the city’s readiness to act when empowered.”

At Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Vice President HwaJeong Kim said, “These measures are the least of what we can do to stop gun violence.”

Passing the ordinance “is not symbolic,” said Council President Rebecca Noecker. “… But it is us showing that we are ready to go.”

Bryan Strawser, chair pf the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, said in a Wednesday statement after the lawsuit was filed: “This illegal ordinance will immediately have a chilling effect on peaceable gun owners in our capital city.

“It’s unfortunate that the City Council and Mayor have chosen to waste taxpayer dollars defending a performative ordinance that clearly violates state law,” he continued.

City Attorney Lyndsey Olson said the city “is ready to defend our authority to prepare for swift public-safety action –while respecting the rights of responsible gun owners — if state preemption is ever lifted.

“Contingent ordinances are a common legal tool used in many areas of law, and despite the MN Gun Caucus’s strong rhetoric, they have not been found to violate state firearm preemption law,” she said.

City Council members on why they passed ordinance

City Council members spoke Wednesday of how they’d been personally affected by violence and threats.

Kim, who was elected in 2023, said she was stalked to her house that year.

“I opened the door to a stranger that was very demanding and accosting and the way that he was standing, I thought that I would be shot in my home on my own doorstep,” she said.

Over the summer, colleagues and friends were told to “shelter in place” when they were told that Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband had been fatally shot, and Sen. John Hoffman and his wife had been shot and wounded at their homes, Kim recounted.

City Council Member Saura Jost said, like many parents, she takes her child to school each morning.

“I give my son a hug and a kiss, and I tell him I love him and I say goodbye to him, knowing that there is a non-zero chance that I will not see him again,” she said. “Our children should not be tasked with protecting each other from gunfire, our healthcare professionals should not have to deal with the trauma of treating children who have been shot with these weapons of destruction.”

The City Council introduced the ordinance on Oct. 22 and, after a public hearing last week, passed it at Wednesday’s meeting.

More than 700 people from around the state emailed the city council, through an email template set up by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, urging them to vote “no.”

Ten of the 14 people who addressed the City Council at last week’s public hearing spoke in favor of the ordinance.

The ordinance would:

• Ban the public possession of assault weapons, “large-capacity magazines, and binary triggers within city limits.” Binary triggers allow a semiautomatic weapon to fire both when the trigger is pulled and released, increasing its rate of fire.

• “Require all firearms to have serial numbers and prohibit untraceable ‘ghost guns.’”

• “Restrict firearms in sensitive public spaces including parks, libraries, recreation centers and city buildings.”

• “Mandate clear signage at public facilities to inform residents and encourage compliance.”

• “Establish penalties for violations and authorize enforcement by local public safety officials.”

Mayor Carter will sign the ordinance, his press secretary said.

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By ED WHITE

DETROIT (AP) — A Chinese scientist charged in Michigan with smuggling biological materials pleaded guilty Wednesday but was given no additional time in jail beyond the five months she already spent in custody.

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Yunqing Jian, who was a temporary researcher at a University of Michigan lab, will be released and quickly deported. A judge called it a “very strange” case involving an “incredibly accomplished researcher.”

Jian, 33, was arrested in June and accused of conspiring with a boyfriend to study and nurse a toxic fungus at a campus lab. A pathogen known as Fusarium graminearum can attack wheat, barley, maize and rice. Zunyong Liu was caught carrying small samples while arriving at a Detroit airport in 2024.

In China, Jian and Liu specialized in studying Fusarium graminearum, which is widely found in U.S. fields, depending on weather and growing conditions. But it is illegal to bring it into the U.S. without a government permit, which carries strict conditions. The university had no permits.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Martin said there was potential for “devastating harm,” though he didn’t elaborate.

“I don’t have evidence that she had evil intent,” Martin told a judge, referring to Jian. “But I don’t have evidence that she was doing this for the betterment of mankind either.”

Roger Innes, a University of Indiana expert who looked at the evidence for Jian’s attorneys, said there was “no risk to U.S. farmers, or anyone else” or any intent to create a more virulent strain. He noted that Liu likely wanted to work with a unique microscope at the lab.

Martin asked for a two-year prison sentence for Jian — four times higher than a maximum six-month term scored under sentencing guidelines. U.S. District Judge Susan DeClercq settled on five months in jail, time already served by Jian.

Jian, wearing chains around her ankles and waist, apologized but said little, relying instead on a letter filed with the court.

“I did not follow the rules because I was under pressure to proceed with research and produce results,” Jian wrote. “The research was not to harm anyone, but instead to find ways to protect crops from disease.”

The conspiracy charge against Jian was dropped in exchange for a guilty plea to smuggling and making false statements to investigators. She acknowledged that in 2024 that she had asked a colleague in China to send biological material hidden in a book. The book was intercepted by U.S. agents.

Liu was also charged in the investigation, but he’s in China and is unlikely to return to the U.S.

Jian was a postdoctoral scholar at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, before being granted a visa to conduct research at a Texas university. She has been working in Michigan since summer 2023.