Champlin Man Held in Shooting That Left Brooklyn Park Football Player Paralyzed
Prosecutors have charged a Champlin man in connection with a drive-by shooting that left a Brooklyn Park college football player paralyzed.
Trokon Kaigboyah, 36, was charged Friday with aiding an offender.
Jail records show he’s also suspected of being the triggerman in the shooting of Michael Blidi Jr.
Blidi, who was expected to play football at Iowa Central Community College this year, was shot on Thursday, May 29. His family says he’s been paralyzed from the knees down.
Blidi played football at Milton Hershey School in Pennsylvania, and began his college football career at Stonehill College.
He’s the brother of NFL defensive tackle Philip Blidi, who signed with the Tennessee Titans this spring.
How It Happened
According to the criminal complaint, Blidi had an altercation with a couple of men during a basketball game a few days prior to May 29.
Blidi punched one of the men, who then said he was going to get his gun.
The shooting occurred just after midnight on May 29. Blidi parked his vehicle outside his home in the 6000 block of Garwood Road North.
Several men in a silver sedan drove by wearing ski masks and shot Blildi as he sat in the vehicle.
Police arrived to find him bleeding heavily from his lower back.
Through surveillance footage police tracked the sedan to Huntington Place Apartments in Brooklyn Park.
Three men, one of which police have identified as Kaigboyah, exited the vehicle and entered the building.
Police searched the vehicle, finding a spent .40 caliber cartridge casing and a bag of marijuana.
Detectives also searched an apartment at the complex, finding a Glock 23 pistol chambered in .40 caliber. The pistol was loaded with an extended magazine.
Police also found a second handgun and live ammunition stashed in a toilet bowl.
See also: Boy Injured in Crystal Apartment Shooting
