Authorities: 2 men charged, 1 still on the loose, after torturing, shooting in Washington County

Angel Sardina-Padilla and Luis Mendoza were charged with attempted murder, torture and kidnapping to benefit the aid of a gang after a woman was found shot and bleeding to death on Arcola Trail North, about five miles north of Stillwater, in early June.

A week earlier, the body of a Minneapolis man, Jose Natividad Gines Cuarte, was found strangled and lying in a ditch in May Township not far from where the woman was shot and left for dead until an Uber driver found her and helped save her life.

The Washington County Attorney's Office has now charged Sardina-Padilla with second-degree homicide of the man whose body was found on June 2 with a belt around his neck.

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Prosecutors said Sardina-Padilla was involved in the murder of the Minneapolis man and the attempted murder of the woman on Arcola Trail North. They said Sardina-Padilla and Mendoza are both members of a St. Paul gang considered to be extremely violent.

Assistant County Attorney, Nick Hydukovich, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the man who was strangled and killed in Minneapolis, his body was dumped in May Township, while the woman who was shot was kidnaped in St. Paul and then driven to Washington County where she was shot.

"These are two particularly violent and ruthless crimes," said Hydukovich. "In the homicide case, the criminal complaint said Sardina-Padilla videotaped the strangulation and then posted it to Facebook messaging for his friends and acquaintances."

Prosecutors told KSTP it is unusual to find gangs driving from their base of operations in St. Paul, or Minneapolis, to places like Washington County to commit crimes and cover up evidence.

Assistant Washington County Attorney, Thomas Wedes, told KSTP there is no evidence to suggest the St. Paul gang is operating regularly in Washington County and they are not entirely certain why these two crimes ended up in their jurisdiction.

2nd arrest made after woman tortured, shot in Washington County

"It is not something that is usual here and not anything I have ever seen since I started working in the Washington County Attorney's Office since I got here a while ago," said Wedes.

Both men are now in the Washington County Jail awaiting trial.