St. Paul police fatally shoot man believed to be murder suspect; BCA investigating
ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul police officers fatally shot a man on Saturday after being tipped off about the whereabouts of a man charged in the death of his pregnant ex-wife.
In a press conference held late Saturday night, Sgt. Mike Ernster said police were first alerted by an anonymous caller just after 1 p.m. that Mychel Stowers — who's charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the death of Damara Stowers last month — was at a laundromat on West Seventh Street and Watson Avenue.
Ernster said officers came to the business but "didn't approach directly," and worked to determine if anyone was inside. After waiting some time, they saw a man pull up to the laundromat on a bike. Another anonymous call came in, again saying he was Stowers.
Police waited until the man left the laundromat at about 1:45 p.m. when Ernster said "about six" uniformed officers in marked squad cars "tried to stop him and determine his identity" near Bay Street and Watson Avenue.
Ernster said the man was armed and multiple officers shot him. He was later pronounced dead at Regions Hospital.
No officers were hurt, Ernster said, and all were wearing active body cameras. They are on standard administrative leave.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is leading the investigation, and Ernster said he was unable to answer several questions about the case, including whether the victim was Stowers, and if he pointed a gun at officers before they opened fire.
Court documents show Stowers was just paroled after being convicted of another murder in 2008.
One of the neighbors WCCO spoke to, Cameron Kral, said his brother witnessed a man on a bicycle being shot.
"They just heard, 'pop, pop, pop,' and turned and saw the man on the bike fall off the bike, and the blood," Kral said.
Neighbor Lawson Harder said the sound of gunfire is uncommon in the "calm, normal" West Seventh-Fort Road neighborhood. Kral said his family moved there to get away from "a lot of problems in east St. Paul."
"It seemed peaceful, and now it's kind of everywhere," Kral said.
Ernster said the BCA will release more information on the case, including the victim's identity and police body camera footage, at a later time.
