Drive-by shooting injures 3 at St. Paul birthday party, marking 3rd shooting at weekend gatherings

Mara H. Gottfried, Pioneer Press
Updated ·1 min read

Three people were injured in a drive-by shooting during a birthday party in St. Paul Sunday night, the third shooting in less than 24 hours at gatherings in St. Paul and North St. Paul.

“Investigators will be looking for connections to other incidents similar to this,” said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman, adding it was unknown as of Sunday night whether there are correlations.

The Sunday night shooting happened on the Greater East Side during a birthday party in the front yard at a home in the 1700 block of East Rose Avenue. Someone fired shots from a black sport-utility vehicle as it drove by about 7:15 p.m. Police originally said it happened at a graduation party, and later said they determined it was during a birthday party.

A woman was shot in the leg, a man was shot in the stomach and another woman had a graze wound to her head, Ernster said. They were being treated at Regions Hospital.

No one was immediately under arrest and police said anyone with information can call investigators at 651-266-5858.

The earlier weekend shootings happened about 10:45 p.m. Saturday in North St. Paul, when four people were injured at a graduation party at Casey Lake Park, and before 1 a.m. Sunday when three young women were hurt during a gathering at Crosby Farm Regional Park in St Paul.

Shootings and homicides have been trending down in St. Paul this year. There were 29 nonfatal shootings in St. Paul as of May 20, compared to 49 during the same time last year, 76 in 2022 and 81 in 2021, according to the police department.

Related Articles