15-year-old arrested in apparent random fatal shooting of driver in St. Paul

St. Paul police have arrested a 15-year-old boy in the death of a woman in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood.

Julia (Yuliya) Li was shot on the 1000 block of Payne Avenue on Feb. 16, and police say the shooting appears to be random, Public Information Officer Steve Linders said Tuesday evening. The suspect is in the Hennepin County jail on suspicion of second-degree murder and "other crimes committed in Hennepin County," according to St. Paul police.

"It appears she was just a person going about her daily business, driving down the street when the suspect opened fire and shot her," Linders said.

St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell said the killing was preventable, in a statement Tuesday evening.

"If every spoke in the criminal justice wheel had worked to hold this teen accountable for previous crimes, Ms. Li would be here, the suspect would have received help and consequences to right his course, and our city would not have suffered the trauma of echoing gunshots," Axtell said.

"Tonight, I spoke with Julia's husband. I told him that I'm incredibly sorry for his loss," Axtell continued. "I told him that the person responsible for his wife's death was in custody. And I told him that my heart breaks for his entire family."