Man shot to death in St. Paul, is city’s third homicide victim in 4-day span

A man fatally shot late Monday in St. Paul’s North of Maryland neighborhood is the third homicide victim in a violent four-day span, part of what the city’s police chief said is a disconcerting trend that can be abated with the community’s help.

St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry denounced the violence in a press conference Tuesday, asking residents to help officers keep their neighborhoods safe.

“It appears that we have a new generation of folks that think the right way to solve problems is by shooting people, even coworkers, and it’s reprehensible and it has to stop,” Henry said. “We need everyone to get off of the bench and get into the fight on this issue. The police department simply cannot do this alone. We need to all work together to help decrease all violent crime in our city.”

Police said they responded about 9:30 p.m. to a 911 call about a man who had been shot at the intersection of Jackson Street and Wheelock Parkway.

Officers arrived there and found the man suffering from gunshot wounds, said St. Paul Police Sgt. Mike Ernster. Medics rendered aid and transported the man to Regions Hospital, where he died shortly afterward, Ernster said. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner said Wednesday that 42-year-old Nicholas Sletten of Little Canada was the victim of of that shooting.

No arrests have been announced in what is the city’s 23rd homicide of the year, according to a Minnesota Star Tribune database. There were 28 homicides at this time last year, the database shows.

Monday’s killing is the third homicide in St. Paul since Friday.

A man was fatally shot Saturday near Wheelock Parkway and Woodbridge Street in the North End. Police identified him Tuesday as Riccardo Fleming, 28, of Walker, Minn. No arrests have been announced in Fleming’s death.

On Friday, a man was fatally stabbed after an apparent fight in Lowertown. Police identified him as Derameo Q. Johnson, 35, of St Paul. Police said they have forwarded to a case to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office for consideration of charges.

Also in the midst of St. Paul’s deadly violence, a postal worker stands accused of shooting and critically wounding his supervisor in the back on Sunday at a post office where they both work.

Tewabe Semu Getachew, 28, of St. Paul, was charged Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court with second-degree attempted murder in connection with the shooting of Roy Varghese, 50, of Eagan at the Postal Service’s Elway Station at 1715 W. 7th St.

The criminal complaint said Getachew has suffered from mental health issues. At the time of the shooting, Getachew had a government-issued permit to carry a firearm in public. Henry said Tuesday that Varghese is in stable condition, adding that mental health concerns factor into many recent crimes.

“We’ve got to have better resources and housing opportunities for folks that are in need of that. We just are not treating our folks suffering from mental health with the compassion that we need to,” Henry said. “They’re trying, people are, but we have a system right now that isn’t set up to deal with this new influx. And we’ve got to be nimble, act on our feet, and find solutions that are going to work in real time, because waiting around is just leading to violent outcomes.”