St. Louis Park Teen Wants Second Case Moved

The attorney for the St. Louis Park teenager accused of murdering two Iowa store clerks in November has asked for the second of two cases against the 18-year-old to be moved, according to Iowa court records.

A Kossuth County judge will now decide whether to move the trial of Michael Richard Swanson. A Humboldt County case has already been moved to Carroll County. That trial is set for June 20, while the Humboldt County case is set for July 27.

Swanson faces first-degree murder charges in both counties. On Nov. 15, the teenager allegedly stole his mother's vehicle in St. Louis Park, then drove to Iowa, where he shot and killed shot the two clerks — Vicky Bowman-Hall, 47, and Sheila Myers, 61 — in separate robbery attempts. Police believe that both clerks complied with his demands for cash and cigarettes, but he shot them anyway to keep the clerks from calling the police.

Swanson had enrolled at St. Louis Park High School on Nov. 8,  just five days after being released from the Hennepin County Home School, a residential treatment center for adolescent offenders. He had been sentenced there in the summer for stealing a vehicle in St. Louis Park and then crashing it while drunk.

According to city records, police had visited the Swanson family home 10 times since 2005, including five times during 2010. Those calls involved reports of theft, assault, a missing person, vehicle theft, a weapons violation and shots fired.