The Unusual Shooting of Alex Pennig

0:00.

0:09911, what is the address of your... It's a day I don't think I'll ever forget. Is she still alive? Is she breathing? No, no. No. No.

0:25A sheriff's vehicle pulled up, and she informed us that Alex was dead. I don't remember what I did other than fall to my knees. What's her name? Alexander. Alex loved people. She was very caring. She loved animals. She'd bring home the story. She'd bring home all kinds of things. She worked a lot of years to get her degree in nursing because she truly wanted to become a nurse. Thank you to my family for never once giving up on me when many times I'm sure you'd wanted to. I talked to her at 6 o 'clock that evening via text. She was doing great and that was kind of the last thing. Is this your partner or Matthew?

1:12It's yours. Her partner? Yes, it's yours. First name is Matthew? Yeah. Yeah. And what's your last name? I can't use the key. Look at the back of it. Matthew Eckert was a nurse practitioner. He was well-educated, good-looking guy. We have a lot of nurses in my family, and he is one of the best nurses I know. He was a friend that she had met through this part-time job she had. She called him. She had called him, that she needed his help, that she was in trouble. She had been in a domestic dispute with her then boyfriend, and Matthew Ecker thought she was being assaulted, and so he came down. He was on his way to work and detoured and came right to her apartment.

1:54He had brought a gun. He brought it with him everywhere he went. He had a permit to carry. We were briefed by the responding officers as we were entering the apartment, and they were telling us their observations and what Matthew Ecker had told them. Were you guys arguing or something? No. No. She just crammed that wound into her head. Alex is laying on her back. She has a gunshot wound to her head. The handgun was facing this way. It was on her left shoulder like this. It just didn't look right. The scene didn't look right. How did she get in that position? It just didn't make sense. They're thinking they're not getting the whole story from Mr.

2:42Eckert. He's the only one that can tell us what happened. He was the only one that was there. The only evidence is that she touched the gun. There was gunshot residue on her left hand. Just as a mom and knowing your kid, I didn't, it didn't fit. He didn't have any motive to kill her. I mean, he was coming down to protect her. There's no way he did this. I would bet my entire life on the fact that he is innocent. The first thing he said to me is, Mom, I did not do this. What happened?

3:21Natalie Morales reports the strange shooting of Alex Penick.

3:32The overnight hours, it's December 16th, 2022. What time do you get that call? On that night, the call came in around 2.50. It was a week before Christmas in 2022 when St. Paul police officer Ching Vang and his partner, Officer Justina Sir, set off on their regular patrol of the city. Dispatcher stated that a female was shot in the head. My partner and I, we went in lights and sirens heading towards that call. And is it all units in the vicinity called in at that time? Yes. Pretty much every unit hop on that call to come and assist. Within minutes, Vang, Sir, and several other officers, body cameras rolling, arrived at the location, a residential apartment building.

4:28Matthew Ecker, the man who had placed the 911 call, let them in. and directed them to an apartment on the second floor. Officer Vang was the first to enter the apartment. I remember walking in. The bathroom was to the right, the very first door. 32-year-old Alex Penig was lying face up with a single gunshot wound to her left temple. I noticed a lot of blood around her head. Officer Vang had immediately spotted the gun laying on Alex's left shoulder, her hand resting on top. A team of officers looked around the small studio apartment and questioned neighbors. No one had heard anything.

5:19In the hallway, Officer Sir was talking to Matthew Ecker. He was on the floor by himself, so I just went and approached him and just started talking to him. Were you concerned about him? I was, because at the time, we didn't know what was going on. I know it's shocked. I know it's hard. I just told him to just slow down, take your time. We're not in a rush. Whenever you're ready, I'm ready to listen. Matthew did eventually calm down, and he started talking. Were you guys arguing or something? telling officers he lived almost three hours away, but drove to Alex after she placed a frantic call to him earlier.

6:03Matthew told police Alex had gotten into a fight with her current boyfriend. His name was Shane Anderson. The things had gone physical, and she was scared of what he might do. So Matthew took his gun and brought it with him to Alex's apartment. Because I was worried that her boyfriend would come. So he was going there, he said, to protect her? Yes. Matthew arrived at Alex's around 2 p.m. Shane wasn't there. I don't want to just hang on. That evening, he said, they went out to local bars. When they walked into a place called Camp Bar, Shane was inside. He came to her and they were arguing. And I came across and I stood in between them and then he punched me.

6:45Shane hit him, he says. And then was kicked out of the bar. And then her and I sat there and talked with other people for another 45 minutes. We came back here and I thought everything was fine. And then she just grabbed the gun. Did she make any threat before that, that she was going to kill herself? She just crammed that one into her head. And with the gun in her hand, she backed into the bathroom, he says, and locked the door. Moments later, a single shot rang out.

7:28Matthew says he quickly broke the door open and saw Alex on the floor. He told the officers he tried using his nursing skills to stop the bleeding by putting pressure on the wound. I tried to do what I could. Okay. And then I wash my hands. Then you wash your hands? Correct. That's why I don't have anything. And then you call the police? Yes.

7:56The news that Alex had fired a gun, taking her own life, was unfathomable to Alex's parents, Mary, Joe, and Jim. That just was completely out of character for Alex. She had never shot a gun. She didn't like guns. so it didn't make any sense. And Alex's mom, Mary Jo, had just texted with her daughter a few hours earlier, and she didn't seem depressed at all. She was doing well, you know, and that's what's hard. Yeah, did you see this? See that part? Detectives Abby DeSanto and Jennifer O'Donnell were called to the scene. You get a call in the middle of the night so you know it's not good. Inside the apartment, there was alcohol and six bottles of prescription medications including antidepressants and amphetamines, all prescribed to Alex.

8:45But if that suggested maybe Alex had been depressed and took her own life, there were other things that didn't seem to add up in Matthew's account. The first was the position of Alex's body, says the investigators, shown here in the CBS News animation. The door to the bathroom was ajar, and you immediately see Alex's feet on either side of the door. If Matthew had broken down the bathroom door after hearing the gunshot, as he told officers he had... We think that if that had been the case, her legs would have been swept behind the door. And even though Matthew had said he washed his hands before calling 911...

9:27When responding officers arrived, the sink was dry. And if he had said, you know, he called the police right away and that sink probably would have been still wet. The detectives decided to take a deeper look at Matthew's story. He had told police his only mission that day was to protect Alex from Shane Anderson, the boyfriend he claimed was violent. And in fact, there were these holes in the closet door. Across from the bathroom, kind of like punch marks. Holes Matthew said Shane was responsible for. It's St. Paul Police. The detectives were now eager to speak with Shane.

10:24It's the most devastating knock on my door I've ever had in my life. Hey, St. Paul police. Hours after Alex Pennig was found dead, Police were at her boyfriend, Shane Anderson's, front door. Did you hear what happened? Two police officers, they asked me who Alex was, and I said, that's my girlfriend. Is she okay?

10:48She's passed away. No. Alex Pettig? You're kidding me. And I, I don't know, blacked out after that, pretty much.

11:05Shane says he was desperate for answers and willingly went to the police station to speak with detectives Abby DeSanto and Dan Zebro. I want to know what happened to her. Okay, that's what I'm trying to figure out. Shane told the detectives he'd been dating Alex for around four months and painted a rosy picture. She was sweet. Like, she was fun. Everything that you'd want in a woman. According to Shane, they spent nearly every day together and loved to lounge around with her two cats. I'm not a cat person. I'm more of a dog person, to be honest. But she kind of made me a cat person. He told the detectives that although it was early in their relationship, they were planning a future together.

11:52Literally yesterday, we were talking about me breaking my lease and moving into her place. We both wanted families. You imagined yourself with her? 100%. Shane's description was in stark contrast to what Matthew Ecker had told police. Matthew said Alex told him she was fighting with Shane and scared of him. But when the detectives asked, Shane denied it. So did the argument that you guys had in that morning, did it get physical? No, not at all. God, no. It was about basically why I haven't moved in yet and why that was taking so long. But what about those punch marks in Alex's apartment? That was from a few weeks back.

12:39That was me. Yes. I was drunk. I didn't put my hands on her, though. We argued like a married couple. It wasn't anything crazy or violent or weird. But remember, Matthew told detectives Shane was arguing with Alex just hours before her death at Camp Bar, and Shane even punched Matthew. I came across and I stood in between them and then he punched me. Shane didn't deny hitting Matthew. He says seeing Alex with another man upset him. Alex showed up with a guy. He doesn't look familiar. I have no idea who the f*** this guy is. I was wondering why this guy is hanging out with my girlfriend. and I decided to throw a punch, which is not in my character, but it just felt like the thing to do at the time.

13:31So Camp Bar is the last bar that Alex and Matthew went to. Detectives DeSanto and O'Donnell reviewed security footage from inside Camp Bar. So as Alex and Matt walked in, Shane was sitting right across from the bar. They took us through the altercation, and we zoomed in for a closer look. Matt was sitting here when they walked in, and then really oddly, Alex walked around the bar and sat across the bar over there. Shane walked over to her first, and then she is talking to Shane, and then Matt comes over, and it appears that he's introducing himself because he holds out his hand to shake hands with Shane.

14:11Then there's a confrontation. Shane ended up assaulting Matt.

14:18No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're not doing that. We are not doing that. Shane then is asked to leave. Yes. I had no idea that that was going to be the last time that I ever saw her.

14:40After Shane left, the footage showed Alex hanging at the bar with Matthew for about another hour, drinking and chatting.

14:51Detectives were no closer to understanding why just a little while later, she would, as Matthew told them, take her own life. And the medical examiner ruled that Alex's manner of death could not be determined. So detectives dug into her past, looking for anything that could explain what happened. She's been every hair color. Brunette, and then blonde, and then black hair. Get some red in there. I put a little red in there, and it was like she would just be every color. Jillian Kubitschek and Sarah Hansen have known Alex since grade school. Tell me about Alex as you knew her back then. Spunky, a little child, full of energy, always up to something.

15:35Jillian played ice hockey with Alex, and together they won a state championship. What was she like? Fire on ice. Luckily, I was always on her team, so I never had to play against her, but she was feisty.

15:50She was so fun. I don't really remember anything other than happiness, really, especially in the younger years.

16:02But detectives learned that as a young adult, Alex struggled. Her parents, Mary Jo and Jim, said that in college, Alex would get depressed, and she got hooked on prescription pills. It was very difficult. One day in 2016... She went up to her room and took a handful of meds, and then had told her mom that she was attempting suicide by meds, and then promptly threw it up, stuck her finger in her throat, and threw it up. I felt like it was a cry for help. And they got Alex that help. Inspired by the nurses who helped her recover, in 2019, she got her licensed practical nursing degree and was chosen to speak at graduation.

16:50I have climbed out of the darkness with permanent scars, but a heart of gold and a promise that as a nurse, I will try my best for people like me to not be alone and help them like those nurses had helped me. Alex didn't make that choice. to get well, and she did. Her life was back on track. Her life was on track. And we watched the Camp Bar video, right? Detectives also learned all about Alex's history with Matthew Ecker. She met him in 2020 when she got a job at a walk-in clinic. Her parents say their daughter described Matthew as someone she worked with. But according to Matthew's parents, Blaine Ecker and Terry Randall, there was a lot more than just friendship.

17:35Alex and Matthew, they say, were having an affair back then, even though Matthew was married with four kids. She knew he was married. She knew he had four children. Terry says the romance didn't last. In the summer of 2022, they had ended the physical part of their relationship and were just friends. Still, she says her son was a source of support for Alex. She says Matthew told her Alex was drinking heavily. and as a result lost several jobs. She wouldn't show up. She'd go on a binge. Without a job, Matthew's family says Alex struggled to pay her bills. So unbeknownst to her parents, Matthew stepped in.

18:18He gave Alex money and helped her pay her rent. Matthew's sisters Molly and Amy aren't surprised their brother wanted to help. He cared for her and he has a big heart and he didn't want to just walk away. He couldn't walk away. And just three days before Alex died, Alex sent Matthew these text messages. I shut myself out to the world. I needed a mental health break. And I'm not very hopeful at the moment about life. Even with those texts, though, and Alex's past attempt years earlier, detectives still weren't convinced she took her own life. Just because you say, I need a mental health day or it's not a good day, doesn't mean you're suicidal.

19:13Detectives suspected Matthew was lying to them. And here's why. Remember, the gun was found on Alex's chest with her left hand on it. Turns out, Alex was right-handed.

19:45When detectives Abby DeSanto and Jennifer O'Donnell reviewed security footage from Alex's apartment building, they were able to see what happened after Matthew and Alex left Camp Bar. So that's Alex and Matt, and they're just in the vestibule of Alex's apartment, walking in. About 2 o 'clock in the morning or so. Yes. Time frame. Mm-hmm. You can see Matthew and Alex walk out of view as they go up to her apartment. But a short while later, they walk back through the lobby and out the door. Matthew would say it was to get his headphones from his car. Alex returns to the lobby and waits For the detectives, what happens next is key She seems impatient Just looking at her body language They note how when Matthew returns Alex doesn't hold the door for him And how he shrugs his shoulders as he follows behind her The detectives wonder if Matthew and Alex had gotten into a fight Something was going on with them That's huge, because that's the last time we see Alex alive.

20:5920 minutes later, at 2.50 a.m., Matthew placed that call to 911. A girl who shot herself in his head. The lobby security footage had no audio, so there was no way to know for sure if the two had gotten into a fight. But when Alex's family and friends saw it... You could tell that she was mad. You could tell the way she ripped open that door. You could tell Alex stomping in. Whenever she was mad, she'd like, stop. And she, it was visible in this video. So they were definitely in a fight. But when detectives questioned Matthew, he denied any problems. We were laughing way home. Everything was fine.

21:46You guys weren't arguing or anything? No. And Matthew's family believes there could be a different reason for the change in Alex's demeanor. In the footage, Alex is on her phone. They wonder if she was messaging Shane and arguing with him about the altercation that had just happened at Camp Bar. I truly believe there's a lot of information, a lot of texting. And we think having gotten those interactions would have given us a lot more insight into her state of mind. But the detectives couldn't get into Alex's phone because no one knew the passcode. And Shane said he had lost his phone the night before, so they couldn't search his either.

22:31It seemed that there was some kind of exchange happening. Was she talking to you at all? I didn't have a phone, so... Facebook message or anything like that? Uh, no. Unable to know for sure what was really happening in the lobby, when Detective DeSanto and her colleague Dan Zebro interviewed Matthew, they focused on what he said happened in the apartment. How was she holding the gun when she was backing up to the bathroom? She was. She had it down here first. And then she cocked it. Left hand cocked it. But she ended up holding it to her left hand full. That's what I remember. Okay. She left hand.

23:14She's not. Not so it was weird. He said she did all this with her left hand, but then he told us she was right-handed. You don't use a weapon with your non-dominant hand. It's just another inconsistency or another part of the puzzle that doesn't match. There was also the nagging question about the sink being dry. Matthew had told first responders he washed his hands after trying to help Alex, which is why his hands were clean. But the sink was dry when police arrived. DeSanto asked if he did, in fact, call police right away. And then you call the police, right? Yeah, they call the police, yeah.

23:56So, you know, when you get blood out of your hands and then you go into the sink and you... Yeah. Or the handle to the sink, right? There should be blood out of the sink. There's no blood in the handle to the sink. And there's no, nothing in the sink. I don't know. I rinse my hand. The sink's dry. There's no water or anything. No, I wash my hands in the sink. But DeSanto thought Matthew was lying. Either he hadn't helped Alex and didn't wash his hands, or he had not called 911 right away. Right now, all this evidence is not bad at all. I can't. I just want you to just think. I just want you to think about this and what you're...

24:40You're asking me to confess to something I didn't do. No, I'm not. I'm asking you just to think. We're just going to give you some time here just to think. we gotta grab that stuff anyway think about everything that we discussed with you