FBI agents shot a man dead Thursday after he barricaded himself for hours inside a north Minneapolis home, livestreaming his negotiations with law enforcement and then emerging armed and with a woman tied to him.
The shooting occurred about noon in the 3700 block of N. Dupont Avenue and involved a SWAT unit from the FBI that was serving an arrest warrant, the agency said in a statement.
A federal affidavit released Thursday night identified the man as Chue Feng Yang, 33, of St. Paul. Also known by the first name Kevin, Yang went on Facebook livestream and recorded several minutes of his negotiation with law enforcement until he went outside the house with the woman tied to him. Several gunshots immediately followed.
“After barricading himself for several hours, the subject was armed as he emerged from the home,” the FBI statement read. “The subject was fatally wounded, and another individual required medical assistance. Both were transported to the hospital.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara and Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt were on the scene, and said the FBI arrived there about 5 a.m. Minneapolis officers were acting as backup but otherwise were not involved, he said.
“This person was on social media videotaping what was happening from inside the residence live,” O’Hara said. “Clearly, from his own social media, this person was armed during this incident.”
At the time of his death, Yang had three outstanding felony warrants for his arrest. His criminal history includes convictions for terroristic threats, burglary, illegal firearm possession and auto theft. Court records indicate that Yang was on probation stemming from the 2021 theft of a motorcycle when, six months later, he and Raylean Gurneau, 26, were caught shooting a dog 10 to 12 times with a BB gun inside a stolen SUV. The two abandoned the wounded animal in Bloomington and drove off as the dog ran after the vehicle, according to animal cruelty charges filed in Hennepin County.
Yang was also implicated in throwing a pit bull puppy from a speeding pickup being chased by law enforcement in January. Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies were chasing suspected carjackers on Interstate 694 when the dog was tossed from a stolen vehicle onto the freeway, according to animal cruelty charges against Gurneau. The dog was injured and later put down.
According to the FBI agent’s affidavit for a federal search and seizure warrant made public Thursday evening, law enforcement was at the residence to arrest Yang in connection with the carjacking and noted that he had unrelated warrants for his arrest from Hennepin and Ramsey Counties.
Agents could see that he was armed with a sawed-off shotgun and he told agents that he had a gun. He also said he would shoot agents if they entered his home.
“At one point Yang said he hoped FBI brought ‘body bags,'” according to the affidavit. Yang claimed he had bombs in the home and that he would detonate them if agents entered.
Yang livestreamed himself twice throughout the standoff, in which a woman who appears to be Gurneau occasionally appears with him. Gurneau was being treated at North Memorial Health for an apparent fentanyl overdose, according to the affidavit. She was in stable condition, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
At some point during the standoff, Yang posted to Facebook: “I love you guys. Please be good to one another.”
On the livestream, Yang is sitting with what appears to be a firearm while a person, apparently a negotiator, speaks on the phone. In the comments, his friends beg him to surrender.
“You and I, we’re on the same page, but it just seems more and more like you don’t want to work with me,” the negotiator says. “I was just told what you posted on Facebook and there was a goodbye message?”
“Yeah,” Yang confirms.
“I know you know you’re in control of this, and you can end this at any time, but it doesn’t mean that you need to end your life or anyone else’s lives today.”
Yang says he refuses to come out, and he makes reference to a bomb at the window while the negotiator urges him to disarm it. The negotiator warns that a window may break, but it doesn’t mean agents will come in.
“Kevin, I don’t know what more I can do for you. I know that you don’t want to go to jail, I know you want time with Raylean [Gurneau], but you guys have had time together now and it’s time to come out.”
Yang responds, “I hope y’all brought body bags.”
“Kevin, I hope you don’t make that decision,” the negotiator replies.
Yang then sets the phone, still recording, aside while the woman is heard saying, “Please, don’t do this, we can get through this, baby.”
A window is heard breaking, and he says, “I’m going to do it.”
She continues to plead with him, saying: “We have a [expletive] baby coming.”
Yang disappears from the frame for a period of time, and then is seen again with the woman tied to him at the waist. A handgun briefly appears to be in her hand while he holds what appears to be a shotgun.
“I love you,” he says, and they walk out the door before shots are fired.
According to a bystander video posted to Facebook, a sheriff’s tactical vehicle was parked at the home while SWAT officers positioned behind a white SUV pointed weapons toward the house and yelled, “Hands!” shortly before gunfire. Officers then began cordoning off the area while one said, “We’ve gotta get that medic in here.”
The officers then surrounded someone on the ground and appeared to perform CPR while others walked a crying woman to the rear of the SUV.
They then entered the house and a boom could be heard from inside. An ambulance was then let into the perimeter, and a few minutes later a stretcher was loaded into the ambulance and it drove away.
Billy Bison, 54, who lives a block away on Dupont, said he woke up at 5:45 a.m. to officers calling through a bullhorn.
The street was locked down, and at 6 a.m. Bison reported seeing officers in protective gear gathered outside the front of the house behind a white SUV parked in the yard.
Around 11 a.m., Bison said, he heard a single gunshot, before going outside to see a man seemingly dead on the ground. Officers performed CPR about 10 minutes later, he said.
The woman who exited the house looked to be in distress and was yelling following the shooting before she was handcuffed, Bison said.
“She was incredibly distraught, and was screaming out someone’s name,” he said.
Bison said he’s become sadly accustomed to witnessing shootings in the area.
“It’s disappointing to myself how acclimated I’ve become to this,” Bison said. “It’s incredibly disappointing — you see somebody lose their life, and it’s not necessarily a new experience.”
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