3 Women, Girl Charged in Attack of Shopper at Rochester Kwik Trip

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)-Three women and a girl are facing charges in connection to an alleged attack of a shopper at a Rochester Kwik Trip last month. 

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The criminal complaint, filed in Olmsted County Court Monday, says Rochester Police were dispatched to the report of an assault at the gas station around 2:30 Saturday morning. Upon arrival officers encountered an adult man with a torn shirt and abrasions across his face and neck. 

The victim told police he had gone to the Kwik Trip at 1990 Scott Rd. Northwest to use the bathroom and buy something to drink. The charges say the man said an employee asked if someone was in the bathroom and he said no then passed a group of females outside of the store and asked them if they had been in the bathroom. 

The man told officers the group responded by punching him and knocking him to the ground. The group then got in a vehicle and drove at the man in what was described as an attempt to run him over, the criminal complaint says. 

The victim wound up on the hood of the car and the driver attempted to fling him off the vehicle while it was moving. At one point the alleged assailants also stole the victim's wallet, the charges say. 

A store employee and another individual at the gas station witnessed the assault. Witnesses also told police they heard occupants of the vehicle shouting at the driver to hit the man with the car, according to the complaint. 

The suspect vehicle attempted to flee the gas station at a high rate of speed when officers arrived. Police stopped it before it left the parking lot and identified the driver as 20-year-old Ebol James Malith of Rochester. 

Police identified the other alleged participants as 19-year-old Adit Malaw Koth and 18-year-old Aakiech Nweach Gora both of Rochester. Police say a juvenile female also participated in the alleged attack, court documents say. 

The adult attackers are each facing a gross misdemeanor third-degree riot charge. The defendants were arranged in Olmsted County Court on Monday. Malith’s conditional bail was set at $2,000 while Gora and Koth were released without bail but with conditions.

The charges did not indicate if the victim needed further medical attention. The store employee told police he asked the man about the bathroom after suspecting a group of intoxicated females had vomited in the restroom.