The Ramsey County attorney’s office won’t press charges against a St. Paul man who shot and wounded another man in a grocery store parking lot last month, saying the shooting was in self-defense.

On the evening of May 21, Bee Thao, 21, shot Keyonte Thompson, 19, also of St. Paul, outside Rainbow Foods at 892 Arcade St. Thompson, shot in the torso, survived after being taken to Regions Hospital.

Thao, who remained at the scene, was detained but not arrested.

A witness sitting in a car in the parking lot told police she saw Bee Thao come out of the store with a woman and child, with Thompson following them. The witness said she saw Thompson punch Thao in the face, before Thao pushed back with one hand, pulled out a handgun and shot him.

The woman with Thao, his mother, told police that they went to the store to buy medication and milk and that they left after Thompson began following them. She said Thompson came up behind them, grabbed Thao by the shoulder, punched him and grabbed him by the neck before Thao shot him.

Right after the shooting, Thao called police, his mother said.

Another witness, also in a vehicle, told police Thao fired “for no reason,” according to an incident report.

Thao has a permit to carry the gun, issued through Ramsey County, according to an incident report. Thao told police he carried the gun to protect his family and fired to protect his mother and young niece. Thao said Thompson told him, inside the store, that he knew Thao and that he would “see him outside,” and other things Thao couldn’t understand. Thao said he had never met Thompson before.

At the hospital, Thompson told police he threatened and punched Thao because he believed Thao had stabbed him years ago. According to another incident report on the case, a police investigator told Thompson that Thao was not the same person who had stabbed him and that no arrests would be made that evening, to which Thompson replied, “OK, I’m cool.”

A man who had accompanied Thompson to the store also said Thompson believed Thao “looked like” a person who had stabbed him, and when Thompson called out his name, Thao “seemed to be confused about what Thompson was saying to him.”

The man said he and Thompson shoplifted medicine from the store, and Thompson waited outside, intending to fight Thao.

Ramsey County attorney’s office spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said “the facts, as presented to us, point to a clear case of self-defense as provided for under Minnesota law,” adding that St. Paul police had not asked for any other charges relating to the case.

Minnesota law allows the use of deadly force when someone “reasonably believes” that another person “exposes the actor or another to great bodily harm or death.”

Tad Vezner can be reached at 651-228-5461. Follow him on Twitter @SPnoir.