Son of St. Paul activist John Thompson shot, wounded

The son of a prominent local activist was shot and wounded in St. Paul Monday afternoon outside of a funeral.

Reached by phone Monday afternoon, John Thompson confirmed that his son had been shot, but said he had little more to immediately add as he waited at the hospital during his son's recovery.

In a video posted to his Facebook page, Thompson said he was at Regions Hospital because his son had been shot in the chest, and demanded police officers allow him to see him. A man in the video identifies himself as a doctor and tells Thompson that his son is "fine" and in "good spirits."

"His vital signs are fine," the doctor says. "He's talking."

St. Paul police said that a 25-year-old man was shot in the 700 block of Portland Avenue just before 1 p.m.

Two men outside of a funeral at a local church were engaged in a "confrontation," and one shot the other, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a police spokesman.

The shooting suspect fled in a car, and no arrests had been made in the case as of late afternoon Monday.

Police found the victim in a nearby alley with gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen, police said. Officers rendered first aid and called for paramedics.

The man was taken to Regions Hospital, and was in stable condition with noncritical injuries, Ernster said.

The nature of the confrontation and the motive were not immediately known.

Thompson became an activist after then-St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez fatally shot his friend, Philando Castile, in 2016. He said in the profile written last year that he is married with two children, a son, 8, and daughter, 12, and has another adult son.

Thompson has become a fixture at community events, protests and rallies, often decrying officer-involved shootings of black men in the Twin Cities.

He was among protesters who shouted down Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman during a news conference in which Freeman announced that the Minneapolis police officers who shot and killed Thurman Blevins would not be charged.

Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708

Twitter: @ChaoStrib