The man accused of shooting a doctor in the head during a robbery in an Edina hospital parking ramp earlier this month has been charged with attempted murder.
Matthew Thomas Rush, 33, of Minnetonka, was charged Tuesday with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree aggravated robbery and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, according to documents filed in Hennepin County District Court. Rush remained in the Hennepin County jail ahead of a court appearance Wednesday.
Lucinda Peterson, 50, of Minneapolis, who was allegedly with Rush at the time of the shooting, was charged with first-degree aggravated robbery and two counts of aiding an offender.
The doctor, whose name has not been released, survived but suffered deep lacerations after a bullet passed through his forehead and exited his scalp. Stitches and staples were required to close the wound, the charges said.
Rush approached the 45-year-old doctor's car on the second level of the west ramp of M Fairview Southdale Hospital about 8:54 p.m. on Sept. 14 and tapped on the window. Rush asked to use the doctor's cellphone. After dialing the number, Rush handed the phone back to the doctor, then produced a handgun and "threatened to kill him" and ordered him to get in the car.
The doctor reached for the gun, then heard a gunshot and fell to the ground, charges say.
Surveillance video caught Rush loitering in the stairwell before the shooting, and running down the same set of stairs afterward. Cameras captured him leaving the ramp in a two-door silver car with a large dent, the charges said.
That same car, registered to Peterson, was the subject of a crime alert involving stolen credit cards issued the next day. The cards were used by Peterson to buy several gift cards and to make a hotel reservation, the charges said.
Police were familiar with Peterson because she was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Rush that fled officers on Sept. 20. Police identified Rush as the driver using descriptions provided by the doctor, who noted the shooter had a dark tattoo on his neck.
Investigators gathered cellphone data for both Rush and Peterson and learned they had been in the vicinity of Fairview Southdale Hospital the night of the shooting.
Records show the suspects' phones were present at a storage facility in New Brighton and surveillance videos show the suspects entering the facility after the shooting, the charges said.
Police searched the unit registered to Rush and Peterson and found gun cleaner, an empty handgun case and the title to Peterson's car.
On Sunday, police spotted Peterson's car at a Bloomington hotel. They arrested both suspects and found evidence of methamphetamine inside a hotel room. They also found clothing Rush was wearing the night of the shooting and a handwritten list that included the words "burner phone" and "gun."
Peterson told police that she was in the area of the hospital on the night of the shooting looking for a bank but made a wrong turn.
She told police that Rush was working and not with her that night. Peterson also denied any knowledge of a phone number she had provided to her probation officer, even though the number was linked to one of several cellphones seized during the suspects' arrests.
Rush has previous convictions for credit card fraud, drug possession and other theft-related offenses. In 2014, he was convicted of a similar aggravated robbery offense, court records show.
Peterson has previous convictions for drug possession, soliciting prostitution, theft and several traffic offenses.
Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768
