St. Paul cops were justified in shooting Lowertown murder suspect, county attorney rules

Scott County Attorney Ron Hocevar has ruled that St. Paul police were justified when they fatally shot a murder suspect during his arrest last year.

Hocevar said in a news release Saturday that officers acted reasonably to protect themselves when they shot Seantrell Tyreese Murdock in September outside a home where he was staying in Belle Plaine.

“While the premature loss of life is always a tragedy, in this situation the officers acted both reasonably and responsibly,” Hocevar said.

He said the officers had tried “to peaceably arrest Mr. Murdock for an assassination-style murder of an unarmed civilian in St. Paul on the previous day.” But Murdock’s actions “far exceeded ‘resisting arrest’ and rose to the level of presenting a clear and present danger to the arresting officers,” Hocevar said.

Authorities identified Murdock in surveillance footage as the man who shot 66-year-old artist Carrie Kwok on Sept. 25 in St. Paul’s Lowertown neighborhood.

Kwok was painting a mural in her building’s parking lot when, according to police, Murdock approached her and shot her from behind.

Kwok, who had two children and four grandchildren, had only recently moved into the Lowertown Lofts Artist Cooperative. Her death rattled neighbors, who gathered days after the murder to mourn her and support each other.

Police Chief Axel Henry called the murder, which police said appeared to have been random, “one of the most cold-blooded things I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Officers tracked Murdock to Belle Plaine within a day of the shooting and surrounded him outside a home in the 100 block of Meridian Street. Body camera footage shows officers approaching him and yelling, “He’s got a gun!” before gunshots ring out.

The footage shows a handgun near Murdock as he is handcuffed and arrested.

“Why did you shoot me?” he asked officers.

“Because you had a gun in your hand, dude,” one officer responded.

Medics airlifted Murdock to HCMC in Minneapolis, where he died that day.

A convicted felon, he was barred from owning firearms. Court records show that his mother had petitioned to have him committed for mental illness, citing bipolar disorder and another condition combining symptoms of schizophrenia and a mood disorder.

Richard Mims-Angel, who identified Murdock on the day officers shot him, said he had helped raise him since the age of 2. Murdock had four children.

“We’re distraught,” Mims-Angel said after the shooting. “The people that aren’t crying are blank and numb.”

Josie Albertson-Grove, Elliot Hughes, Louis Krauss and Paul Walsh of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this report.