St. Paul police shot and killed a man who was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and waving a rifle Monday afternoon on the city's East Side.
Police were called to 411 White Bear Av. N. near Old Hudson Road at 3:20 p.m. on a report that a man was armed with a rifle.
Neighbors, who asked that their names not be used, said the man was heard screaming incoherently, cursing and waving the gun even before the police SWAT team and negotiators arrived in the neighborhood.
One neighbor heard the man scream out that he was going to kill somebody.
A neighbor who lives behind the house was outside in the yard with his granddaughter when they heard the man screaming. When he and his granddaughter left, they saw the man was shirtless but wearing a bullet-resistant vest.
"I knew then that things weren't going to go well," the neighbor said.
Negotiators talked to the gunman for more than an hour, neighbors said. Police cordoned off the immediate area and evacuated some residents from the danger zone.
At one point, a neighbor saw the man drinking beer and heard him talking to his mother on the phone as negotiators stood by.
