On a Monday afternoon in Howard Lake, Minnesota, 20-year-old Adrian Montano Medina, a Hispanic male, was fatally shot on March 20, 2023. The incident took place just after noon in the parking lot of Dura Supreme, a cabinet manufacturing company where Medina worked. Authorities were called to the scene in the 300 block of Dura Drive, where they found Medina deceased in the driver's seat of his truck with a gunshot wound.
The investigation that followed revealed a tragic story rooted in a
workplace love triangle. The suspect, 23-year-old Kevin Uriel Zelaya Asencio, was a coworker of Medina's. Asencio suspected that his wife, who also worked at Dura Supreme, was having a romantic relationship with Medina. On the morning of the shooting, Asencio's wife informed him that she wanted to end their marriage. In response, Asencio left his job, went to his apartment in Glencoe to retrieve an AR-15 assault rifle and ammunition, and then returned to the Dura Supreme parking lot.
Asencio waited in his vehicle until he saw his wife and Medina walk to Medina's pickup truck, apparently to have lunch together. Asencio then exited his truck, carrying the rifle, and entered the back seat of Medina's vehicle. He confronted Medina, telling him to either get out of the truck or drive away. When Medina did not comply, Asencio shot him multiple times in the head.
Following the shooting, Asencio fled the scene in his pickup truck. A witness who called 911 was able to provide a description of the suspect's vehicle to law enforcement. A short time later, a Wright County sheriff's deputy spotted Asencio's truck on Highway 12 in the nearby town of Waverly and arrested him without incident. An AR-15 rifle was recovered from his vehicle. Kevin Asencio was subsequently charged with second-degree intentional murder. He later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and second-degree assault. In November 2024, he was sentenced to 33 years and seven months in prison.
