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Wanted for man accused of killing pregnant wife while on parole for murder
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Wanted for man accused of killing pregnant wife while on parole for murder

A search is underway for a Minnesota man who was recently paroled for murder after being charged with killing his pregnant wife and linked to another shooting.

Mychel Stowers, 36, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the Oct. 19 shooting that killed Damara Alexis Kirkland, 35, who was about two months pregnant.

Officers responding to reports of gunshots found Kirkland’s body crumpled on the floor. There were ultrasound photos in the apartment and a letter addressed to Stowers in the mailbox, according to the probable cause statement filed Thursday.

Stowers had been paroled from prison in March on a second-degree murder charge in the 2008 shooting death of a St. Paul. He was off work and living in a halfway house, but had been granted a permit to visit a woman described in the probable cause statement as his ex-wife on the day of the shooting.

Stowers filed for divorce in June, though it does not appear to have been finalized, other court records show.

The apartment owner said Kirkland’s estranged husband was living with her, which was not allowed because he was not renting. The owner said she was evicted, the release said.

Minutes after Kirkland’s shooting was reported, officers responded to a carjacking nearby and found a 36-year-old man on the ground, injured. The man said he left his car keys in the ignition with the engine running while he went out to take out the trash.

He said a man matching Stowers’ description approached and shot him, the bullet rupturing his femur. The gunman also fired at a person who was with the victim, but missed.

The shooter fled, but then returned and stole the vehicle, the release said. A preliminary analysis shows the gun used in the drive-by attack was the same one used in Kirkland’s shootings.

Later that day, an employee with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office received a call from Stowers. Stowers told the employee that he had just shot someone and wanted to surrender, the release said.

But he did not do so, and the stolen vehicle was recovered in a parking lot on Thursday, the statement said.

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