A suspected car thief running from St. Paul police after crashing the vehicle was shot and wounded by a homeowner late Tuesday morning, authorities said.
The shots were fired in the 600 block of Cook Avenue on St. Paul's East Side. The 20-year-old suspect was wounded, police said.
A 36-year-old man with a gun was with the suspect when police arrived, and he identified himself to officers as the homeowner, police said. He cooperated with the investigation and was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of aggravated assault.
The Star Tribune typically does not name suspects who have not been charged.
Police found the man who had been shot in the side yard of the house after hearing gunfire, said Sgt. Mike Ernster.
A sign in the window of the house read, "No trespassing. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again!" The sign punctuates the message with drawings of bullet holes.
The 20-year-old was wounded in the foot and arm, according to emergency dispatch audio. He was taken by Fire Department paramedics to Regions Hospital and later booked into the Ramsey County jail on auto theft charges, police said.
The crash involving the stolen car occurred roughly an hour earlier and about a quarter-mile to the south at Payne and Jenks avenues, according to police and emergency dispatch audio.
The dispatch audio also revealed that police were in pursuit of the car in the moments leading up to the crash. Someone ran from the vehicle after it crashed, and at one time three suspects in all were being sought, according to the audio.
Police first attempted to stop the car at Forest Street and Case Avenue, about three-fourths of a mile east of where the crash occurred.
More than an hour after the gunfire, several officers were scouring the ground for evidence in the rear and on one side of a house on Cook. Investigators will be reviewing any physical evidence found as well as conducting interviews to determine what transpired, Ernster said.
The car's owner, a 28-year-old St. Paul man, left the vehicle running with the keys in the ignition Friday afternoon at a Holiday gas station at the corner of Minnehaha Avenue E. and Birmingham Street while he went inside, police said.
