'Tragedy On Top Of A Tragedy': 1 Dead, 3 Hurt In Shooting Outside St. Paul Funeral
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- Police in St. Paul say one man is dead and three others are hurt after a shooting outside a funeral home in the city's West Side neighborhood Monday.
Police say "multiple shooters" opened fire at about 11:20 a.m. on the 400 block of Humboldt Avenue. A 28-year-old man was struck in the throat; a man in his 30s was hit in the neck; a man in his 20s was grazed in the face; and a man in his 20s is in critical condition with injuries to his abdomen, back and legs. All four were brought to Regions Hospital, where the 28-year-old later died. Regions was on lockdown for a short time Monday "out of abundance of caution," hospital officials said.
Public Information Officer Steve Linders described the shooting -- which was during funeral services for Casanova Carter, who was fatally shot in the neighborhood on Feb. 1 -- as "a tragedy on top of a tragedy."
"A family was there to gather to mourn and to celebrate a life, and we had a shooting that took another life," Linders said.
Police say the family did not want a visible police presence at the funeral. Community leader Tyrone Terrill says it hurts his heart to see this violence have a chokehold on the entire community.
"We're to a point where we can't even have a funeral in peace," Terrill said. "The violence is not going to stop until we get down to the root cause. The root cause is we have drama, trauma and other things, poverty, you name it, in our community. It needs to be addressed, otherwise it's gonna continue."
Linders says Monday's shooting is not believed to be random, and a motive is not known at this point. No arrests have been made.
A 17-year-old did show up at Regions with gunshot wounds to his legs shortly after the shooting, but it's unknown if he was involved.
Rev. Darryl Spence, coordinator of the God Squad, says the time is now to get young people to stop the shooting.
"This kid is my son's age. I actually thought my son might have been at the funeral," Spence said. "We need some people that aren't afraid to come down in the valley and work with these kids, help these kids understand that this cannot be the way. This cannot be what we want in our community."
Investigators are gathering video surveillance footage in the area and speaking with witnesses. Anyone with information is asked to call 651-266-5650.
