Charges: Love triangle at center of Minneapolis homicide

A Minneapolis man is accused of killing the husband of a woman with whom he’d been in a relationship until recently.

Court documents filed Wednesday charge 37-year-old Orky Xayachack with murdering 31-year-old Ricardo Samuel Pena Martinez on Monday morning.

Police were called to a parking lot in the 1900 block of Chicago Avenue just before 9:30 a.m. and found Martinez suffering from a gunshot wound to his back. He was taken to a hospital but died a short time later.

A woman who provided aid to Martinez after the shooting told officers that she saw a gold-colored SUV drive away from the scene. Officers were then able to check surveillance cameras, which showed Martinez walk up to the SUV and talk to the driver briefly before he turned and collapsed. The SUV then sped off, but cameras showed that nobody else was in the vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.

Martinez’s wife was able to identify the driver as Xayachack, saying she and Martinez had been married for several years but had several periods of separation during that time, the complaint states. During one of those periods of separation, this past June, she started a romantic relationship with Xayachack and was living with him until she ended their relationship and reconciled with her husband.

The woman added that Xayachack was angry about her decision to go back to Martinez and made threats to kill Martinez and the woman. After the shooting, the woman said Xayachack messaged her and said he “(expletive) up Martinez.”

Officers found the gold-colored SUV that afternoon, found a discharged cartridge casing inside and arrested Xayachack. The registered owner of the SUV noted that Xayachack had said he needed to switch vehicles with him Monday morning but wouldn’t say why.

Xayachack faces up to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder and up to 15 years for gun possession by a prohibited person. His first court appearance is scheduled for Monday afternoon.