St. Paul police officers shot a man who was reportedly roaming around outside naked wielding a steak knife near the corner of N. Rice Street and W. Magnolia Avenue in the city's North End on Saturday night after responding to a domestic assault report.
Police did not immediately release many details of the events leading up to the shooting, but a department spokesman said officers shot the man around 9:15 p.m. near the Bradshaw Funeral Home and that he'd been taken to Regions Hospital.
The unidentified man suffered three gunshot wounds to the leg and one to the abdomen, along with a dog bite, according to emergency scanner audio. After midnight, police said the man was in stable condition at Regions.
In police scanner audio before the incident, officers said they received a report that a man had attacked his ex-girlfriend with a knife in a car, causing a crash near Maryland Avenue and Rice Street, where the car slammed into a fence at a Minnoco service station. The man was naked and roaming around with a steak knife, according to the scanner audio.
Officers later described the man jumping in a dumpster in an alley near the funeral home. One officer instructed the others not to chase the man if he ran, according to the audio. They discussed using nonlethal "pepper ball" rounds and tried to talk the man out of the dumpster. An officer then reported that the man was running, and then said, "Shots fired!"
In a release early Sunday, police said the man was found hiding in a dumpster in the alley behind the funeral home. "Preliminary information gathered from supervisors who were called to the scene after the shooting indicates that the officers attempted to talk the man out of the dumpster," the police statement said.
At some point, the man climbed out of the dumpster and ran toward officers, according to St. Paul police. Officers deployed Tasers and a dog in an effort to stop him, and one officer shot the man, according to the police account.
Police called for paramedics and one officer said they had put two tourniquets on the man in an attempt to stop his bleeding, according to scanner audio.
Shortly after 10 p.m., police had cordoned off the funeral home property with yellow tape. Agents from the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which investigates most shootings in which law enforcement has been involved, were also at the scene late Saturday, taking photos at the funeral home and undertaking other investigative work.
None of the officers was injured, and all those involved will be placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure. Also according to police policy, the Minnesota BCA is investigating the shooting and what led to it.
Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report.
