Update: She might have interrupted burglary; 1 charged with murder

Hard work and taking care of her 5-year-old daughter were the fabric of Sarah Anne Wierstad’s life. The 24-year-old worked double shifts to support herself and her child and was returning home from 12 hours of work Sunday when her life was cut short.

Someone shot Wierstad after she had left a bus in St. Paul and walked around the corner toward her home.

Wierstad’s family was struggling Monday to figure out how they would tell the young woman’s daughter — whom Wierstad’s world had revolved around — that her mother was gone.

Preliminary information indicated the shooting in the Railroad Island area was not connected to other recent homicides in St. Paul, but police will not know for sure until they determine who shot the woman, Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman, said Monday.

Wierstad’s homicide was the third in five days in the city; the others occurred Wednesday and Thursday in the Dayton’s Bluff area. No arrests have been made in the cases.

Julie Zietlow, Wierstad’s mother, said she does not know why her daughter was killed, but she hopes anyone with information will come forward to police.

“We don’t know if she was at the wrong place at the wrong time or if it was someone she may have known,” Zietlow said.

About 8 p.m. Sunday, police responded to reports of shots fired at Beaumont and Bedford streets. They found a woman near the road, suffering from a gunshot wound, and paramedics took her to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where she was pronounced dead, Linders said.

“She was right there on the corner, feet from her door,” Zietlow said.

A woman who lives nearby said she heard gunshots and heard a woman yelling, “Are you OK, sweetheart?” She opened her door and saw Wierstad lying on the ground. A woman who was trying to help opened Wierstad’s jacket, and the neighbor could see Wierstad was bleeding from the chest. A man working at a nearby restaurant also ran over to try to help.

“My main concern was, where was her daughter,” said the neighbor, who declined to give her name. She recognized Wierstad from the area and often saw her pick up her daughter at the bus stop. On Monday, the neighbor said she was shaken and saddened. “It’s unbelievable that this could happen,” she said.

Wierstad’s daughter had been with her father and paternal grandmother when Wierstad was at work. They were bringing her back to Wierstad on Sunday night when they found they could not get into the area because police had put crime tape around the shooting scene, Zietlow said.

“Sarah said she would be home from the bus about 8 o’clock and they kept texting her and texting her and couldn’t get ahold of her,” Zietlow said. “I think they finally actually called the police, because it was not like my daughter to be out of touch.”

A HARD-WORKING AND DEVOTED MOM

Wierstad grew up in St. Paul. Her mother says she was her spirited middle child, between older and younger brothers. She graduated in 2010 from AGAPE High School, a school for teens who are pregnant or have children. Wierstad went on to attend Minneapolis Community & Technical College, majoring in criminal justice. Terry Zietlow, Wierstad’s stepfather, thought she had wanted to become a prison guard.

But being a college student and a single mother was difficult, especially when her infant daughter was often sick. Wierstad left school, though she had begun anew this fall, this time at Le Cordon Bleu.

“She made just barely enough to support herself,” her mother said. “She was trying to get as many hours at work as she could to pay her bills. She started going to school because she didn’t want to have to work six days a week just to put food on her table.”

Wierstad had worked for A’viands, a food service management company based in Roseville, since December 2011. She put in double shifts Saturday and Sunday at Alton Memory Care in St. Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood, her family said. She cooked there on weekends and served food to residents during the week.

“Sarah was just a wonderful person. She was great with people and her daughter was her world,” said Brittany Mayer-Schuler, A’viands general counsel, relaying what Wierstad’s manager told her. “She would get up at 4:30 a.m. to get the bus to culinary school and then go to work after that. She was working really hard to make a better life for her and her daughter.”

Previously, Wierstad worked in food service at the Ramsey County jail, also as an A’viands employee, and in the deli at Cub Foods on White Bear Avenue in Maplewood, her mother said.

Growing up, Wierstad “loved food, but she didn’t like to cook it,” and her family used to tease her about it, Zietlow said. She especially enjoyed spicy food and the tartness of pickle juice, which she would drink by the jar. But Wierstad came to realize that cooking was fun and that “it was going to further her dreams to get where she wanted in life,” according to Zietlow.

Wierstad was funny, loud, the life of the party and no-nonsense. “She told it like it was,” Zietlow said.

This year, Wierstad had traveled out of Minnesota for the first time, which also marked the first time she had been on a plane. Wierstad saved up, and with her uncle’s help, went to Florida with her extended family, Zietlow said. She got to take her daughter to Disney World.

“Sarah had a lot of dreams,” said Judy Smith, her grandmother. “She was a kid who wanted to do something with her life and she loved her daughter so much.”

SPATE OF HOMICIDES

Wierstad’s death marked the 10th homicide in St. Paul this year; there were 11 last year. The first this year was in April, and five have occurred since Sept. 29, all in various areas of the East Side, with no arrests made in any. Charges have been brought in the first five cases this year (four of which were alleged cases of domestic violence) and two people have been convicted.

“There’s been so many of them,” Zietlow said Monday.

“And for what? It’s so senseless,” said Christine Smith, Wierstad’s aunt.

Last week, Synika George James, 37, was fatally shot while attending a vigil for a homicide victim in the area of Cypress Street and Reaney Avenue on Wednesday. Emmett Lee Wilson-Shaw III, 24, was shot dead Thursday on the Earl Street Bridge, a few blocks from James’ shooting.

Police have announced a reward for information in the Oct. 5 shooting of Htoo Baw, 54, on East Orange Avenue near Walsh Street. His family has said he had no enemies and they fear the motive was robbery. Crime Stoppers of Minnesota accepts anonymous tips at 800-222-TIPS (8477) and offers a reward for information that leads to a felony arrest.

The other unsolved case occurred Sept. 29. Jerome Hall Jr., 25, was shot in Hazel Park. A woman who had been with him ran for help, telling a nearby resident that two men had jumped him.

On Monday, Linders said of Wierstad’s death: “This is the 10th homicide we’ve had this year in St. Paul, and we call all agree that’s 10 too many. The neighborhood’s concerned, the entire city’s concerned, and frankly, we as a police department are fed up.

“We are taking officers from specialty units and we’re putting them in areas where we’ve seen increased activity. People who live in these neighborhoods … they’ll see an increase in police presence in these areas.”

As concern has grown on the East Side about the recent homicides, residents have been talking about what they can do. Emily Kampa, who lives in Dayton’s Bluff, has been encouraging people across East Side-affiliated Facebook groups to attend the police department’s Eastern District’s regular monthly community meeting.

The meetings are the third Wednesday of each month; October’s session is this week. The meetings are at 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. at the Eastern District, 722 Payne Ave.

Kampa also wrote to the police department by email last week, urging a discussion about gang violence, especially on the East Side.

“We see (gang) names in the news, but why don’t we ever get information directly from SPPD?,” she said.

“I know that clique gangs are very hard to track and control,” she wrote in the email. “But PLEASE, begin to involve the citizens of St. Paul in an organized way. Tell us how we can help youth in our community. Tell us about how and where the gangs are operat(ing). Tell us how we can help YOU.”

HOW TO HELP

Police ask anyone with information about any of the homicides to call them at 651-266-5650.

Donations for Sarah Wierstad’s 5-year-old daughter are being accepted by an account in her maternal grandmother’s name. They can be directed to the Julie Zietlow Memorial Fund 002, NSP Credit Union, 825 Rice St., St. Paul, MN 55117.

Donations can be made online at youcaring.com.

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at mgottfried@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried. Andy Rathbun can be reached arathbun@pioneerpress.com or at 651-228-2121. Follow him at twitter.com/andyrathbun.