One dead, another arrested after St. Paul stabbing in Lowertown

A man died Friday after police say a suspect stabbed him during a fight in St. Paul’s Lowertown neighborhood.

St. Paul police Sgt. Mike Ernster said the fight happened sometime before 5:23 p.m. Friday when officers were called to the 200 block of East 7th Street. They arrived and found a man bleeding in a gas station parking lot from “apparent stab-related injuries.”

Fire department medics responded and took him to Region’s Hospital, but the man died from his injuries. His death marks the 22nd homicide in St. Paul this year, according a Minnesota Star Tribune database. There were 27 by this time last year.

The suspect in Friday’s stabbing remained at the scene, and authorities took him into custody. Investigators are still piecing together what happened, but early reports suggest the suspect and victim fought in a nearby store when the stabbing happened.

Ernster said Saturday that the suspect is a 60-year-old man from St. Paul who was released Saturday while the investigation continues by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office.

The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner is expected to release the victim’s name and cause of death by next week.

The incident comes weeks after 66-year-old artist Carrie Kwok was shot dead while painting a mural near an artists’ cooperative in Lowertown. Investigators later learned her shooting was random, and the 29-year-old Belle Plaine man suspected of murdering her was killed as officers arrested him.

Dozens of residents gathered days later, reeling from Kwok’s death, which marked the first homicide in the neighborhood in recent years.

Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report.