A celebration of life party held at a Minnesota senior living apartment complex turned deadly after a shooting broke out immediately after the event, leaving two people dead and three others injured.
Police were called to the Frogtown neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota, at around 5:15 pm on Saturday, February 25, with reports of a shooting at the parking lot of a senior living center.
Responding officers found bullets had struck five people. Some victims were taken to the hospital in private cars, while the others went by ambulance. One man was reportedly in critical condition, a woman sustained non-life-threatening injuries, and another was in stable condition.
First responders pronounced one of the victims dead at the scene, while the second victim died while getting treatment at United Hospital.
The shooting occurred at the Kings Crossing by Episcopal Homes parking lot. The apartment complex offers low-income housing to seniors over the age of 62.
Police have not yet established a motive for the shooting, but investigators believe it was a targeted attack. No arrests have been made.
According to the Quad Area Chamber of Commerce, one of the dead victims was identified as Larry Jiles Jr. The man popularly known as “chef hot hands” owned a cafe in Centerville.
One of the residents, 79-year-old Joan Chillers, said the building is usually quiet and secure. Chillers told a local news outlet that she spotted a few people arguing at the party on her way to the grocery store, and as she arrived back an hour later, she found police all around.
It was the second shooting in St. Paul in two consecutive days. On Friday, February 24, three teenagers were injured during a drive-by shooting as they attended a funeral reception for another teenage boy who had been stabbed to death at a school earlier this month.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz tweeted condemning the gun violence in the city. He said he was committed to curbing the violence by addressing gang activity.
Saturday’s shooting marked the fifth homicide in St. Paul since the beginning of the year.
