The southern Minnesota man who led police on a 12-hour manhunt Sunday after two people were shot dead in their Hanska home was charged Monday with one count of second-degree murder.
Authorities believe Randy Thomas Zimmerman, 45, of Courtland, entered the home of Justin Reinarts, 50, and Tabitha Trescott, 32, early Sunday and shot them both at close range with a shotgun.
Moments later, Trescott’s 13-year-old son called police to report Zimmerman — an ex-boyfriend of Trescott’s — “broke into their house and shot his mom in the face,” according to Brown County District Court documents.
Zimmerman, meanwhile, remained jailed in Iowa. He was taken into custody after firing his weapon at an officer who stopped him by ramming his vehicle. The officer was unharmed and no other details were available about how Zimmerman was ultimately subdued.
Andrew Konechne, chief deputy of the Brown County Sheriff’s Office, said he expected Zimmerman to be returned to Minnesota within a few days. After that, county prosecutors plan to convene a grand jury to consider first-degree murder charges. (In Minnesota, such charges require a grand jury indictment.)
Konechne was among the first law enforcement officers to arrive.
“They were shot while they were in bed,” he said. “They were asleep when the attack happened.”
The 13-year-old who called 911 was awakened by someone yelling “You f—— b—-, I gave you a chance,” and then heard one gunshot. When he stepped out of his room to investigate, he told authorities, Zimmerman pointed his shotgun at him and told him to get back in his room.
Minutes after Zimmerman fled, authorities say he sent a text message to another of Trescott’s children, saying that he had shot both Trescott and Reinarts.
Law enforcement arrived at the house within minutes, but Zimmerman was on his way south. As he fled, the Brown County Sheriff’s Office entered Zimmerman’s driver’s license into a national database called Mid-States Organized Crime Information Center, which uses surveillance cameras to scan license plates. Somewhere in Iowa, a camera scanned Zimmerman’s plates, and when it did, that triggered an alert to local authorities.
After the alert went out that a suspect in a double homicide was in the area, an officer spotted the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop. At some point the officer used his vehicle to ram Zimmerman’s. After being shot at, the officer somehow subdued Zimmerman.
In addition to facing murder charges in Minnesota, Zimmerman could face attempted murder charges and fleeing police charges in Iowa. But because of the severity of the Minnesota charges, it’s likely those will be prioritized. Once the Minnesota charges get resolved, Zimmerman could be made to face charges in Iowa.
Good neighbor
When you ask Hanska residents what they think about Reinarts, they’re quick to tell you a story.
“I was short $40 one day at the gas station, he was standing behind me,” says Sara Sandtorf, a neighbor who lives around the corner. “He paid the rest of my bill. And I was like, ‘I’ll come back with the $40,’ he’s like, ‘Nope, you don’t need to’ … He was a very, very nice guy.”
The tiny town of Hanska, population 165, was rocked Sunday when that very nice man and Trescott were murdered.
Sara Sandtorf, who lives around the corner from Reinert’s home, said her outdoor camera spotted a car coming down her street at 1:37 a.m. Sunday, and she thought that was strange.
“No one’s ever driving this road,” she says.
At 4:10 a.m. the camera spots more movement, this time that same car is parked across the street from Reinarts’ home. At 4:17 a.m., the car is gone. At 4:22 a.m., a child dials 911 from Reinarts’ home to report his mom had been shot. At 4:32 a.m., multiple law enforcement officers descend on 102 Blessum St. Within a few hours, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension arrives with its mobile crime lab and doesn’t leave until well into the evening.
Dick Smith lives next door to Reinarts, and says that, before he retired, he served in the Hanska Fire Department with his neighbor.
Smith says Trescott had recently, within the past week or so, moved in with him, but he hadn’t gotten the chance to meet her.
All the activity on his street Sunday left Smith pondering whether anyone’s safe these days.
“It’s a quiet town,” he says, “but with all these cop cars sitting here and BCA coming in, and with it being right next door, well … You just don’t know, nowadays.”
Across the street, Mike Sagstetter, a transplant from the Twin Cities, said he’s lived in Hanska for 13 years.
“I moved down here to get away from this stuff,” he said. “But now it’s right close to home.”
Sagstetter and his wife, Gayle, said they knew Justin and thought he was the kind of friendly, hardworking neighbor anyone would want to have.
He was also helpful.
“He helped me put a new roof on the back of my house,” he says. “He offered to help me because I wanted to get it all done in one day.”
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