St. Paul homicide: 3 found dead after shooting at apartment leasing office

I'm Nikki Mulhausen, one of the PIOs with the St. Paul Police Department, and I'll just be sharing a couple of details about the incident that occurred earlier this evening, and then Chief Axel Henry will be sharing what he can about the investigation. At about 4.10 this afternoon, St. Paul police officers responded to multiple reports of shots fired in the 1500 block of St. Paul Avenue. Officers responded to a scene and unfortunately found three people deceased inside of the apartment complex leasing office area. The apartment was evacuated to ensure the safety of others that were still in that building. Right now, this is a very active and ongoing investigation. There is not a suspect in custody at this time. And anyone with information, we are asking that they call 651-266-5650. And with that, I will turn it over to Chief Henry. Again, my name is Axel Henry, I'm the Chief of Police for the St. Paul Police Department. Thanks for the opportunity to say a few words. As you can imagine, this investigation is very early on. As we talked about, the call originated just after 4 p.m. today. Couple quick things I just want to say for the record. First and foremost, obviously, our thoughts go out to the victims, their families, and their friends. This is an unbelievably big tragedy for our city and it will not be accepted. Secondly, I want to recognize and thank all the citizens and first responders who responded to the shots fired and helped us bring some safety to the scene. We've already conducted at least one search warrant in relation to this and the investigation continues. And third and most importantly, we want to say this to the individual or individuals that are responsible for this. Turn yourself in, because we will find you and we will hold you accountable. This investigation is ongoing. We already have some good information, some leads that we're working on, but we will find you and we will hold you accountable. This community does not accept this type of behavior, it is not going to be allowed here, and we will bring you to justice. With that, I'll take a few questions. At this point, that's a part of the investigation that we're trying to determine, but the information you have is accurate in the fact that it took place in a leasing office. At this point, no. That scene is being searched right now by investigators, so I have no information as to what's been located there, but there were no suspects in that address. At this point, it's very, very limited, so we're holding that at bay, but we are communicating with our law enforcement partners across the state and at the federal level to make sure that every effort is being put forth to bring a swift apprehension to this person. And again, I will say, if this person is watching the news, turn yourself in. Pull over or come outside or pick up a phone, call law enforcement wherever you're at and turn yourself in because we are going to find you. This point, I wouldn't describe it that way, but the call records that we have in our city, this wouldn't be the first time we've dealt with this person. I believe that's being looked at right now. I think that at least one of the people was, but again, way too soon for us to say. That I do not know. There's a series of apartment complexes there that appears to be all under the same management and an abundance of caution and obviously for the safety of our community members. We did do some clearing out there. It's my understanding right now that we're hopeful to get folks back into their residences as soon as possible. I do not. Thank you.