A gas station employee shot two people in St. Paul on Sunday morning after they assaulted him, according to police. The people who were shot were taken to Regions Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, St. Paul Police spokesperson Nikki Muehlhausen said.
Gas station employee shoots two people in St. Paul after assault, police say
The two individuals reportedly assaulted the employee prior to the shooting, authorities said.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
December 29, 2024 at 10:00PM
The 22-year-old employee was arrested and booked into the Ramsey County jail around 11 a.m. Sunday for aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by an ineligible person, Muehlhausen said. The Minnesota Star Tribune generally doesn’t name suspects until they are charged.
The incident occurred around 7 a.m. when police received a call of shots fired at an ARCO gas station at 306 Larpenteur Ave E. Officers found one victim in the parking lot and another about a block south at the intersection of Mississippi Street and East Wheelock Parkway, police Sgt. Toy Vixayvong said.
Surveillance footage showed someone assaulting a gas station employee amid an argument, Muehlhausen said. When another person started assaulting the employee, the employee began to shoot.
The suspect allegedly shot two people while he was on probation. He was sentenced in September to 20 days in the Hennepin County Adult Corrections Facility plus three years’ supervised probation after he was convicted of paying an underage girl for sex.
Police posed as the minor as part of an undercover sex trafficking sting and arrested the suspect when he arrived at an address officers provided, charging documents state. As a condition of his probation, the suspect is not allowed to possess a firearm.
Many malls and grocery stores are open in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area on New Year’s Day, but not banks and government offices. Most public transit have limited runs.
