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Boyfriend Held in Woman's Shooting: Police Say 28-Year-Old Victim Not Likely to Survive

Posted on: Saturday, 3 June 2006, 00:00 CDT

By Frederick Melo, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

May 22--A St. Paul woman who followed in her father's footsteps to become a postal carrier was shot by her boyfriend on Saturday and was not expected to survive, according to police.

Taryn Lea Baumgardner, 28, was taken to Regions Hospital with grave injuries Saturday morning. Her boyfriend, Ian Cody, 27, was arrested later Saturday on suspicion of aggravated domestic assault and is being held in the Ramsey County Jail.

The couple has a 9-year-old girl, police said, but it wasn't clear whether she was at the West Side home where the shooting occurred. Authorities said they have recovered the gun they believe was used in the shooting.

The assault occurred two days before the launch of a new metrowide billboard and radio campaign aimed at raising awareness of family violence.

To kick off the effort, a coalition of Twin Cities business leaders plans to gather at 3 p.m. today in front of the Minnesota Women's Building at 550 Rice St. in St. Paul. The group is organized by the Minneapolis-based Tubman Family Alliance, which runs crisis hot lines and three shelters for victims of domestic abuse.

Baumgardner's family could not be reached for comment, but her neighbors said she bought the large two-story house at the corner of Robie Street and Hall Avenue about six years ago and mostly kept to herself, sharing an occasional wave with them as she mowed the lawn or worked on her property.

They said Cody seemed to be an on-again, off-again presence in her life but had been living with her for the past several months.

Jeff Sturm, who lives nearby, said he heard what sounded like a heavy object dropping at about 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

"I didn't think it was a shot initially," Sturm said.

After leaving to run errands, he returned home about 90 minutes later to find police cars swarming around Baumgardner's residence.

Authorities said they were alerted to the shooting by an emergency call, but would not confirm neighbor accounts that it had been placed by Cody.

St. Paul police spokesman Pete Crum said there had been a police response to the Robie Street address in the fall of 2004 after a 911 call was placed by Baumgardner's sister, but no one was arrested and there was no further investigation.

Taryn Baumgardner had made headlines as a student athlete at Humboldt High School in the late 1990s, excelling in basketball.

She later became a postal worker like her father, who also is a St. Paul resident.

Taryn and her older sister, Briana Baumgardner, 30, ran a 10-kilometer road race together at the end of April, race records show.

Briana Baumgardner joined the Ramsey County Attorney's Office as a prosecutor in 2004 and had previously been the director of the Margaret Recreation Center in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood of St. Paul.

Frederick Melo can be reached at fmelo@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-2172.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)

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