St. Paul postal employee tried to kill co-worker in USPS office shooting, charges say
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Charges are now filed in a St. Paul shooting involving two postal workers on Sunday that left one with life-threatening injuries.
It happened at about 3:30 p.m. at the post office on West Seventh Avenue near Alaska Avenue, just a few blocks east of Highland National Golf Course. Police say officers found a man with multiple gunshot wounds. He is being treated at Regions Hospital.
The suspect, a 28-year-old St. Paul man, left the scene but was arrested during a traffic stop about 90 minutes later about a mile southwest of the post office. He has since been charged with second-degree attempted murder, according to the Ramsey County Attorney's Office.
According to the criminal complaint, an employee of the post office described the suspect as "weird" and was having mental health issues. They said he sometimes refused to do his job and argued with his supervisor.
The victim is "miraculously in stable condition," according to the complaint, and most of the gunshot wounds were to his back. He will be undergoing additional surgery on Tuesday.
The suspect began working at the post office in February. He has a permit to carry a handgun issued out of Ramsey County, the complaint said.
Police arrested the suspect outside of his residence. The complaint says he had "what appeared to be blood on the laces" of his right shoe. A firearm was recovered from his residence during the execution of a search warrant and preliminary examination shows it fired the casings recovered from the post office, according to the complaint.
According to online records, the suspect threatened to kill the human resources director at his previous job in 2021. The complaint did note that the suspect has a prior gross misdemeanor harassment conviction in Hennepin County.
The suspect made his first appearance in court on Tuesday morning where his bail was set at $1 million.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress, get help from the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Trained crisis counselors are available 24 hours a day to talk about anything.In addition, help is available from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. Call the NAMI Helpline at 800-950-6264 or text "HelpLine" to 62640. There are more than 600 local NAMI organizations and affiliates across the country, many of which offer free support and education programs.