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ST. PAUL, Minn. — A shooting in a St. Paul bar left 14 people injured and a woman dead early Sunday, according to police.
Update 8:02 p.m. EDT Oct. 10: St. Paul police identified the three men taken into custody Sunday in connection with the mass shooting at the Minnesota bar as Terry Lorenzo Brown Jr., 33; Devondre Trevon Phillips, 29; and Jeffrey Orlando Hoffman, 32, KSTP reported.
Meanwhile, family members identified the young woman killed in the shootout as Marquisha Wiley, the TV station reported.
The circumstances leading up to the shooting remained unclear. Authorities continue to investigate.
Original report: Authorities said “multiple 911 callers frantically begged for help” after several shooters reportedly opened fire around 12:15 a.m. at a bar on the 200 block of West Seventh Street. All officers working in St. Paul and authorities from multiple other law enforcement agencies responded to the shooting, the Pioneer Press reported. Officers found a “hellish situation” when they arrived at the scene at the Seventh Street Truck Park bar and food hall, according to MPR News.
“There were gunshot wound victims lying in the street outside the bar, there were gunshot wound victims lying on the sidewalk outside the bar and there were gunshot wound victims lying on the floor inside the bar,” police spokesman Steve Linders said at an early morning news conference shared by MPR News. “All told, 15 people were shot.”
Linders said some victims were shot in the ankle, in the arm or in the hand, while others suffered more serious injuries.
“Thankfully, all 14 of those people are expected to survive their injuries,” Linders said. “Sadly, and tragically, a woman in her 20s who was shot inside the bar did die.”
The woman’s identity was not immediately released.
Authorities believe multiple shooters opened fire Sunday, although their motives and their exact numbers were not immediately known.
“This is nothing short of a tragedy,” Linders said. “We had people in the city of St. Paul out on a Saturday night having a good time, and we had other people who decided to pull guns with reckless disregard for human life (who) pulled the trigger over and over and over and over again – and it ended in tragedy.”
In a statement, police Chief Todd Axtell vowed that investigators would not “stop until we find the people responsible for this madness.”
“My heart breaks for the woman who was killed, her loved ones and everyone else who was in that bar this morning,” he said.
Mayor Melvin Carter called the shooting “senseless” and highlighted the importance of building “more proactive and comprehensive public safety strategies.”
“Our community is devastated by the shocking scenes from last night,” he said. “We will never accept violence in our community.”h
No arrests were immediately made, and no suspects have been identified. Authorities continue to investigate.
