Man fatally shot in doorway of home in St. Cloud; suspect in custody

A man is dead after an apparently random shooting Sunday morning in St. Cloud, police said.

According to the St. Cloud Police Department, at 6:16 a.m., officers responded to a report of a shooting in the 2600 block of Island View Drive. Officers were told a man was shot while standing inside the doorway of a home.

Once officers arrived, they found the shooting victim inside the home. The suspect had already fled the area by the time police arrived. An ambulance took the victim to St. Cloud Hospital, where he later died.

Officers set up a perimeter and tried to track down the suspect with a K-9 but were unsuccessful. Just after 7 a.m., dispatch received a call that a man was walking in the area of the 1200 Block of Fourth Avenue South with a handgun. Police were able to find the man and arrest him, recovering the gun in the process.

The suspect, Jason Robert Beckman, 45, of Duluth, admitted to police he had shot the victim. He is being held at the Stearns County Jail. Formal charges are expected later.

Police said investigation leads them to believe this was a random incident and there were no connections between Beckman and either the victim or the neighborhood where the incident occurred.

The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office will identify the victim following an autopsy.