Melchizedek Kpaan booking photo (Hennepin County Jail)
A man has been sentenced after being charged with fatally shooting a 17-year-old girl in Brooklyn Park last summer.
Melchizedek Kpaan, 25, was sentenced to just over 10 years in prison (122 months) after pleading guilty to one count of first-degree manslaughter.
Court documents state that on July 1, 2025, officers responded to a girl who said she had been shot near 70th Avenue North and Lakeland Avenue North in a U-Haul parking lot.
The girl, later identified as Zoey Kpanlin, was brought to the hospital, where she later died from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Investigators looked at surveillance video and saw Kpanlin walking behind a man, later identified as Kpaan, through the U-Haul parking lot. Kpaan, who was carrying a backpack, walked briefly out of the camera’s view before reappearing, holding a gun, court records state.
According to the criminal complaint, Kpaan threw the backpack at the girl and then fired the gun. Court documents say Kpanlin then pulled out a gun, which she did not point or fire, grabbed the backpack, and ran around the corner of the building, where she was eventually found by police.
Kpaan was seen on video running from the area and putting his blue sweater in a dumpster, which was later recovered by authorities.
Court records note that the victim had been texting with Kpaan leading up to the shooting.
Brooklyn Park police later secured an arrest warrant for Kpaan and learned he was in Ohio, where he was taken into custody on July 18, 2025.
A fundraiser set up by Kpanlin’s family stated she died just days before her 18th birthday.
