Nine years ago, a St. Paul man robbed two people in a Columbia Heights home and held a gun to their heads. He told one “he would have no remorse shooting him because he hates white people,” according to a criminal complaint.

Benjamin Lee Harris went to prison in that case and then again for a 2010 armed robbery in St. Paul. On Tuesday, police arrested Harris yet again — this time, police say they suspect the 29-year-old of being involved in a St. Paul homicide in the North End. Police were called about a robbery last week and found 41-year-old Jason Mikulak had been fatally shot.

When Mikulak was killed, Harris was already a wanted man. He got out of prison on supervised release in June from the 2010 robbery, but the Minnesota Department of Corrections issued a warrant for alleged violation of his release in July. DOC and law enforcement were trying to locate him, according to a Corrections spokesman.

Mikulak’s family is struggling to make sense of what happened and of Harris’ criminal past.

“It’s really sad that (Harris) was wanted already, and they couldn’t catch him, and now an innocent man lost his life,” said Nicole Gonzalez, who had a 16-year-old daughter with Mikulak.

ARREST TUESDAY

St. Paul police officers arrested Harris at a St. Paul residence Tuesday afternoon, according to a Ramsey County Jail log. He was booked into the jail on suspicion of murder, possession of a controlled substance (a police spokesman said he was found with marijuana) and parole violation.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office is reviewing the case for potential charges against Harris.

Police have not released many details of what happened to Mikulak. They said officers were called to a report of a robbery on Galtier Street, near Orange Avenue, about 4 a.m. Thursday and found Mikulak critically injured outside, mid-block. Paramedics say Mikulak of Minneapolis died at the scene. He had been with a friend when he was killed, Gonzalez said.

Mikulak’s family believed the suspect would be caught. They were told that Mikulak fought with his attacker and that police had physical evidence from the suspect, Gonzalez said.

“We knew it was going to be someone with a rap sheet,” she said. “If you’re walking around that neighborhood at 4 o’clock in the morning with a gun, that’s not the first time you’re doing it.”

Police did not provide information Wednesday about what led them to Harris.

HARRIS’ CRIMINAL HISTORY

Minnesota court records show that when Harris was 17, he was adjudicated delinquent for possessing a firearm by a minor. At 19 years old, he was charged in the Columbia Heights robbery.

In that case, three unknown males entered a home at 2:15 a.m. They demanded money and marijuana plants growing in the basement. A man with a gun, later identified as Harris, held the weapon to a man’s and woman’s heads, according to the criminal complaint. Harris was convicted of first-degree aggravated robbery and sentenced to four years in prison.

Then, in 2010, a man reported that someone followed him off a bus in St. Paul. At Front and Western avenues, the man pointed a pocket knife at the victim and told him, “Just give me everything you got if you don’t want to get stuck.”

The victim handed the man — who was identified as Harris — his iPod, debit card and a $20 bill. Harris also made the man give him his driver’s license, and Harris “looked at it for a long time as if memorizing the address” and then returned it to the victim, the complaint said.

Police arrested Harris in the area, and he was again convicted of first-degree aggravated robbery. He was sentenced to more than 6 years in prison.

Inmates in Minnesota prisons generally serve two-thirds of their sentences behind bars and the rest on supervised release in the community. Harris got out of prison on supervised release with Ramsey County Community Corrections on June 13.

Harris was in a chemical dependency treatment program, but he ran away from it July 5, and the program notified Community Corrections on July 6, according to a Community Corrections spokesman. The county agency alerted DOC that day, and the warrant for Harris was issued.

PLANNING A FUNERAL

Now, Mikulak’s family is looking for answers about what happened to him and planning his funeral. A fundraising site has been established for Mikulak’s funeral expenses.

Mikulak worked as a truck driver for Holiday Stationstores and also was the father to a 2-year-old girl. His teenage daughter was supposed to start school Wednesday but was too upset to go, Gonzalez said.

Laniece Jones, the mother of Mikulak’s younger daughter, said she’s been praying that police would make an arrest in Mikulak’s homicide.

“For him to die that way really hit me hard,” Jones said. “I think there was a guy out there just looking to commit crimes and I think, unfortunately, Jason was in his path.”