St. Paul Park

St. Paul Park police on Monday identified the man who died Oct. 25 in a houseboat fire.

Nicholas Walsh, 38, of St. Paul Park, died just before 2 a.m. at Hidden Harbor Marina in St. Paul Park, Chief Jessica Danberg said.

“Nick loved God and his family,” according to his obituary.

Walsh “was a fun-loving guy, as are a lot of people down here,” Tim Kennedy, owner of Hidden Harbor Marina, told WCCO. “They get to know each other very well. Some of them have been here for a decade.”

Police began receiving reports at 1:55 a.m. that a houseboat moored in the Mississippi River marina had caught fire and was fully engulfed. A second houseboat also caught fire before any of the numerous agencies that responded to the call arrived at the scene, but the occupants of the second houseboat were able to safely evacuate, police said.

The State Fire Marshal is investigating.

A Mass of Christian burial for Walsh will be 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Rosemount, with a vigil from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday and visitation from 10-11 a.m. Thursday.

In lieu of flowers, people are asked to donate to his children’s education fund.

— Mary Divine

Possible explosives found in traffic stop

A man arrested by Oak Park Heights police during a traffic stop early Saturday was found to have “possible explosive devices or materials to make explosives” in his vehicle, police said.

The 46-year-old man was arrested about 2 a.m. Saturday by an Oak Park Heights officer for no driver’s license and no vehicle insurance offenses during a traffic stop on Minnesota 36, according to a press release from the Oak Park Heights Police Department.

“Suspicious items were found inside the vehicle which led to further investigation of possible explosive devices or materials to make explosives,” the press release states.

The St. Paul bomb squad unit was called to remove the items for further examination.

The man’s hotel room in Stillwater also was searched.

The suspect was arrested and taken to the Washington County Jail, the release states.

— Mary Divine

vandais heights

3 children, adult injured in weekend house fire

A fire in a Vadnais Heights townhome sent three children and an adult to the hospital over the weekend.

Firefighters went into the burning residence and rescued two young children. The children, along with another child and an adult who were able to escape the townhome, were transported to Regions Hospital, according to Vadnais Heights Fire Chief Chris Hearden.

Information about their conditions wasn’t known Monday.

The Vadnais Heights Fire Department was dispatched to the townhome complex about 5:40 p.m. Saturday in the 1000 block of Ramsey County Road D East. Fire crews saw “active fire and heavy smoke conditions from one of the townhomes,” Hearden said.

Vadnais Heights was assisted by the Maplewood, Little Canada and White Bear Lake Fire Departments in their response.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation Monday.

— Mara H. Gottfried

Minneapolis

Thompson rejects plea deal in fatal crash

Derrick Thompson, who is accused of causing a crash that killed five young Somali women in Minneapolis last year, has rejected a plea deal offered to him in August and will take the case to a jury.

At a pretrial hearing on Monday, Thompson, the son of a former St. Paul state representative, told Hennepin County District Judge Carolina Lamas that he understood rejecting the deal by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office means he faces third-degree murder charges, which were added in September. Lamas set Feb. 18 for the start of the trial.

The plea offer, which expired Monday, called for a prison term between 32½ and nearly 39 years for pleading guilty to five counts of criminal vehicular homicide for causing a collision and leaving the scene.

The charges say that Thompson sped through a red light in a rented Cadillac Escalade at Lake Street and Second Avenue and struck a Honda Civic with the five women inside just after 10 p.m. June 16, 2023.

Thompson is the son of former Minnesota Rep. John Thompson, who represented St. Paul’s East Side for one term beginning in 2021.

A federal jury last month found Derrick Thompson guilty of federal drug and weapons charges connected to the crash after more than 2,000 fentanyl pills and a Glock 40 semiautomatic handgun were found inside the Cadillac after the crash. A federal sentencing date has not been set.

— Nick Ferraro