A grand jury has indicted a 36-year-old man in the April fatal shooting of his 72-year-old roommate in their South St. Paul apartment, the Dakota County Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

The indictment charges Jacob John Audie, 36, with one count each of first-degree murder and second-degree intentional murder in connection with the killing of Michael Maurice Schille at an apartment building on 12th Avenue off Thompson Avenue.

Jacob John Audie (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

Audie was previously charged with second-degree intentional murder, not premeditated.

According to the criminal complaint, Audie called 911 about 8:45 p.m. April 11 and reported that he had shot Schille. Schille was found in the back bedroom with a television remote in his hand; he had a gunshot wound to the side of his face. He was declared dead.

Police arrested Audie in the apartment building’s parking lot. He gave a statement to police, saying he lived with Schille for the last year or two. He said he helped care for Schille and clean the apartment.

Audie said he used Schille’s AR-15 rifle to shoot the man once in the cheek area in Schille’s bedroom, according to the complaint, which doesn’t give a motive for the shooting. Officers located an AR-style rifle in the living room.

Audie remains in custody at the Dakota County jail in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of his next court hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

If convicted of first-degree murder, he faces the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Related Articles

Jury convicts St. Paul man in fatal shooting of Rice Street bar customer

Condition of the last hospitalized Annunciation Church shooting victim has improved

Fridley man gets life in prison for Coon Rapids triple murder

Brazilian Supreme Court panel sentences Bolsonaro to more than 27 years in prison for coup attempt

Suspect in Trump assassination attempt veers off topic and forfeits opening statement at trial

The praise that rookie punt returner Myles Price has been garnering in the aftermath of his NFL debut is very much deserved.

Let’s just say he certainly looked the part

After signing with the Vikings an undrafted free agent this spring, Price slowly started to separate himself from some of his peers this summer. He solidified his spot on the roster by winning the competition to be the punt returner.

“I knew at some point I was going to get my opportunity,” Price said. “As soon as I got it, I said, ‘Don’t give it back.’ ”

That seemed to be Price’s mentality on Monday night at Soldier Field as he did his part to help the Vikings earn a 27-24 win over the Chicago Bears.

“He was able to make a guy miss at the point of attack and get to the second level where his blockers were,” special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said. “We stole a lot of the hidden yardage in that game.”

In the end, Price finished with four punt returns for 68 yards, showing a combination of shiftiness and explosiveness in space. That number is not insignificant when considering journeyman receiver Brandon Powell served as the punt returner last season and logged 164 yards total.

Minnesota cornerback Marcus Sherels makes New Orleans defensive end George Johnson miss during a punt return in the first quarter of an NFC playoff game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday Jan. 14, 2018. (Pioneer Press / John Autey)

There’s an argument to be made that Price is already the best player the Vikings have had in that role since longtime punt returner Marcus Sherels.

What makes a great punt returner?

To figure out the answer to that question, the Pioneer Press tracked down Sherels, who still owns a bunch of franchise records, including most punt return touchdowns in a career (5), among others.

“It’s a position that not a lot of guys want to play,” Sherels said with a laugh. “There’s a lot of pressure being out there on an island.”

If anybody would know, it’s Sherels, who did it for the better part of a decade. A defensive back at Minnesota, his journey with the Vikings started in 2010 after he was invited to rookie minicamp on a tryout. He remembers arriving at Winter Park and seeing his last name was misspelled on the depth chart.

After garnering few reps on defense at his first practice, Sherels approached former special teams coordinator Brian Murphy and told him he wanted to join the competition at punt returner.

“He was like, ‘Sure. Whatever,’ ” Sherels said. “He didn’t even really know who I was at the time. I ended up doing it, and I was catching them fine. He kind of liked what he saw and they signed me.”

Never mind that Sherels went on to become the GOAT punt returner for the Vikings. He admitted there was a feeling-out process despite finishing with 2,480 punt return yards.

“I would be back there like, ‘Please don’t drop it. Please don’t drop it. Please don’t drop it,’ ” Sherels said. “My mindset kind of changed as I got more and more comfortable. I wanted those opportunities. I went in knowing I could change the game.”

Asked how he perfected his craft, Sherels credited the countless hours he spent with former special teams coordinator Mike Priefer. They would stay late after practice to get extra reps in. They would also watch tons of film to learn tendencies of opposing punters.

“He really believed in me, so we put a lot of time in it,” Sherels said. “That’s what it takes to be great at it.”

Though a willingness to work is extremely important to success at the highest level, Sherels said the key to having staying power as a punt returner is consistently being able to make the initial defender miss.

“I think where I kind of stood out was with my quickness,” he said. “I was pretty good at making people miss, and then I could use my vision to read where to go once I had the ball in my hands.”

There’s also some fearlessness required.

“You’ve also got to be able to take a hit and get back up no matter what,” Sherels said. “There were a bunch of times I didn’t make the right decision with the fair catch, and I got blown up because of it.”

As he was sitting at home this week watching the Vikings play the Chicago Bears, Sherels found himself glued to the screen whenever a ball was booted skyward.

“That’s still my favorite play to watch,” he said. “It brings me back.”

What did he think of Price in his NFL debut?

“He looked good,” Sherels said. “He had some juice. I’m excited to watch him. I think he’s going to keep getting better and better.”

Minnesota cornerback Marcus Sherels makes New Orleans defensive end George Johnson miss during a punt return in the first quarter of an NFC playoff game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday Jan. 14, 2018. (Pioneer Press / John Autey)

Related Articles

J.J. McCarthy misses Vikings practice to be at birth of his son

Vikings place Blake Cashman and Ty Chandler on injured reserve

Vikings safety Harrison Smith gives update on his personal health issue

J.J. McCarthy named NFC Offensive Player of the Week

The Loop Fantasy Football Report Week 2: First week waiver frenzy ahead

A jury has convicted a St. Paul man for his role in the assault and shooting of a 42-year-old outside a Rice Street bar.

Edward G. Robinson, 43, was found guilty this week in Ramsey County District Court of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and first-degree assault for the killing of Oscar Lee Covington, who died nearly a month after he was robbed and shot on Oct. 30 after patronizing Born’s Bar along Rice Street near Manitoba Avenue. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 7.

Edward G. Robinson (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

The alleged shooter, Marlon Deion Dickey, 40, has been charged with second-degree murder and prosecutors are awaiting his extradition from another state, according to a spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

Meanwhile, Erica Ruth Hampton, who was working as a bartender at Born’s, is charged with aiding an offender by being an accomplice after the fact. A jury trial is scheduled for next month.

Officers called to the bar about 5:45 p.m. on a report of a shooting found Covington on the ground in front of the bar with a gunshot wound to his torso.

Items recovered by police at the scene included Robinson’s wallet and cellphone.

Covington talked to investigators at the hospital the next day and said that, when he went outside, a short man he didn’t know but who he’d seen around asked him for a cigarette. People with the man had their hoods up, which he made note of because it wasn’t cold. He said he was then robbed and shot.

Surveillance video from the bar and nearby businesses showed that Covington left the bar about 5:42 p.m. Robinson “began a physical assault” on Covington, with others joining in, according to the criminal complaint.

Related Articles

Fridley man gets life in prison for Coon Rapids triple murder

Victim families, co-workers react as woman who bought Burnsville ambush guns is sentenced

New federal charges against 3 men for 3 Roseville and Little Canada robberies in 3 hours

Man fatally shot over drug debt at St. Paul homeless encampment, charge says

Man, 72, charged with threatening to kill federal judge in Minnesota

Dickey pulled out a handgun and swung it at Covington’s head. He then put the gun to Covington’s torso and fired, “and everyone involved in the robbery and shooting scattered,” the complaint says.

An analysis of the casing found at the scene showed that it was fired by the same gun that fired a casing recovered at a shooting in Milwaukee in 2022, according to the complaint, which adds that Dickey has ties to the Milwaukee area.

Covington’s wife notified St. Paul police on Nov. 26 that Covington had died after being removed from life support.

The condition of the last victim of the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting to remain hospitalized has improved after two weeks.

Sophia Forchas, 12, has improved from critical condition to serious condition as of Thursday morning,  according to the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. Serious condition, as defined by HCMC , means the patient is acutely ill and there is a chance for improved prognosis.

Sophia is the last of the 21 people, most of them children, who were injured in the Aug. 27 shooting to still be under hospital care. Two children — 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski — were killed as Annunciation Church and its affiliated school held a back-to-school Mass.

The shooter died by suicide, police said, and no motive has been publicly identified.

At a Sept. 5 briefing, Sophia’s neurosurgeon, Dr. Walt Galicich, said there was a chance she could be the third fatality in the shooting but that he was starting to see “rays of hope.”

“I noticed her blue nail polish and her curly hair, and I opened her eyes, and she was bilaterally fixed and dilated, which means that her pressure in her brain was very high,” he said. “And if you had told me at this juncture, 10 days later, that we’d be standing here with any ray of hope, I would have said it would take a miracle.”

Galicich said Sophia was shot in her left temporal lobe and the bullet remains lodged in her right occipital lobe. Important blood vessels in the bullet’s path were damaged, he said. She has swelling and pressure in the brain, and as of Sept. 5, she was in a medically induced coma with intermittent breaks.

“It’s day by day, and I can’t tell you how this is going to end. I know she’s had a stroke from that injury, that blood vessel,” Galicich said at the time. “I don’t know what her permanent deficits are going to be, but we’re a little bit more optimistic that she’s going to survive.”

Sophia’s father, Tom Forchas, also spoke at the Sept. 5 news conference. He described Sophia as “kind, brilliant and full of life.” Her family has released a verified GoFundMe, which has raised more $1 million.

“Sophia is strong. Sophia is fighting, and Sophia is going to win this fight for all of humanity,” he said.

Meanwhile, Annunciation resumed preschool this week, with students and their parents returning to the school on West 54th Street at Lyndale Avenue South, according to principal Matthew DeBoer.

A memorial service for Harper Moyski will be held Saturday at the Lake Harriet Band Shell in Minneapolis. A funeral service for Fletcher Merkel was held Sunday at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.

Related Articles

Hundreds mourn 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel, who was killed in a mass shooting at a Minneapolis church

Children’s Minnesota releases its last Annunciation shooting victim from hospital

Joe Soucheray: To keep each other safe, we’ll ‘pray with our feet’

Student walkouts demand gun control following Annunciation shooting

Neurosurgeon says there are ‘rays of hope’ for girl critically hurt in Minneapolis church shooting