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St. Paul man charged with attempted murder after allegedly firing at officer during chase

St. Paul man accused of shooting at police officers charged with attempted murder
St. Paul man accused of shooting at police officers charged with attempted murder 02:04

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Charges accuse a St. Paul man of fleeing the police, firing at an officer with a stolen gun, possessing cocaine and refusing impairment tests once the whole affair was finished.

Samuel Flowers, 26, is charged with eight counts, according to court documents filed in Ramsey County Wednesday: second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, two counts of prohibited firearm and ammunition possession, a dangerous weapons charge, fifth-degree drug possession, fleeing a peace officer and refusal to submit to a chemical test. All are felony charges but the last.

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Samuel Flowers Ramsey County

According to a criminal complaint, an officer saw a driver in a Chevrolet Impala speeding on University Avenue around 11 p.m. Monday. The officer followed the driver until another officer arrived to continue the pursuit.

The pursuing officer tracked the driver to Raloux Street, where he unsuccessfully attempted to pin the vehicle. The officer continued the chase onto St. Anthony Avenue, where someone inside the Impala started shooting at his car, the complaint states. The officer was not hurt, but his vehicle was damaged. Police later discovered another vehicle belonging to a civilian had been damaged by the gunfire.

Other officers started chasing the Impala until the driver crashed into a parked car on the 800 block of Fuller Avenue. Police arrested the driver, later identified as Flowers, and found an "AR-style rifle" and more than a dozen spent casings inside the Impala, according to the complaint. They also found "armor-piercing ammunition" in the gun's chamber and magazine, the complaint states.

"Its unbelievable lucky because the effective range of that firearm, of that weapon's platform system, is very far it's a very high end. We are talking 2,000 feet per second and it had the green tip jacket round that is designed to penetrate steel," St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said. 

The gun had been reported stolen in Minneapolis in 2018.

After complaining of pain following the crash, Flowers was taken to Regions Hospital. Noticing signs of impairment, officers obtained a search warrant to collect his blood or urine, but he refused to give a sample and told officers "he wanted to go to jail," the complaint states.

Police found a bag of cocaine on Flowers during his arrest. 

"Mr. Flowers is currently on intensive supervised release. He was released from the Department of Corrections on March 4, 2024," Henry said.  

Police say shortly after his release, Flowers was arrested again for a weapons charge but got out on a $100,000 bail.

In a statement, the Ramsey County Attorney said, "We are extremely grateful that our Saint Paul police officers ... were able to resolve this situation without anyone getting seriously hurt. We will do everything in our power to hold him accountable."

Flowers is barred from possessing a firearm because of previous felony convictions, one of them for a gang-related drive-by shooting, according to the complaint.

At a court hearing on Thursday, a judge set Flowers' bail at $10 million with no conditions.

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