Shooting victim's sister says she knew life was threatened

(AP) -The sister of a Washington County woman allegedly killed by a former boyfriend said that the woman feared he would kill her. "She and I had conversations about what would happen to her children and she feared him, she feared him," Vicki Seliger Swenson, sister of shooting victim Teri Lee, told KARE-TV.

Steve Van Keuren allegedly broke into Lee's home early Friday, fatally shooting Lee and another man. Lee's four children were in the house at the time but were not harmed.

Van Keuren, who was shot by police, remained in serious condition at Regions Hospital in St. Paul and is awaiting charges. He had been under a court order to stay away from Lee after a July incident where he broke into her house and threatened her with butcher knives. He was out on bail and had allegedly continued to contact Lee.

The case has rattled domestic violence advocates, who say more needs to be done for victims in situations like this one.

"When someone attempts murder, they break in, they say I'm willing to kill this person. I'm willing to kill myself," said Mary Ajax, founder of the Louis House, a domestic abuse shelter. "The risk there is so great that we shouldn't allow a bail to be set, we could hold this person until trial."

Seliger Swenson said the system let her sister down. After the July incident, a Washington County judge ordered Van Keuren to have no contact with Lee or her family members, and to stay a mile away from her house.

But Seliger Swenson told the Star Tribune that despite the restrictions, Van Keuren's father e-mailed Lee asking her to talk to Van Keuren. This past Wednesday, she said, Van Keuren showed up at a volleyball game where one of Lee's daughters was playing.

Seliger Swenson said Lee called the police Thursday to report the incident but got no immediate response.

"This really needs to be a wake-up call to law enforcement that they need to take no-contact orders and orders for protection extremely seriously," said Danielle Kluz, public awareness and prevention coordinator for the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women in St. Paul.

Authorities in Washington County said police and courts did what they could.

"Clearly in this case, we didn't have the outcome that anyone wanted," Sheriff Steve Pott said Saturday, saying agencies involved took appropriate steps. "I don't know that the system really broke down."

Lee's family are not satisfied that's the case. "Maybe someone from this will decide that something needs to change, legislation needs to change," says Erik Swenson, Lee's brother-in-law.

The father of Lee's four children died five years ago in a car accident. Now, her four children will live with the Swensons, who already have three of their own. But Seliger Swenson said she would honor the request of her sister, who seemed to be planning for the worst.

"She wanted to know that we would be OK and I said without a question," Seliger Swenson said.

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