1 Killed and at Least 14 Wounded in Shooting in Minnesota Bar, Police Say

One person was killed and at least 14 others were wounded during a shooting early Sunday inside a crowded bar in St. Paul, Minnesota, authorities said.

When police arrived at the bar, identified as Seventh Street Truck Park, shortly after 12:15 a.m., they said they encountered a chaotic scene, with the victims scattered on the sidewalk, in the street and inside.

“They walked into a hellish situation,” Steve Linders, a spokesperson for the St. Paul Police Department, said during a briefing at the scene Sunday morning.

Investigators said later Sunday that they had arrested three men who were involved in the shooting and were among those who were shot. According to police, the men, who remained hospitalized, are Terry Lorenzo Brown Jr., 33; Devondre Trevon Phillips, 29; and Jeffrey Orlando Hoffman, 32.

It was not immediately clear whether the men had lawyers. They are expected to be booked into a Ramsey County jail after they are released from the hospital and while they await formal charges.

Authorities said that they had not yet determined a motive for the shooting, which claimed the life of a woman in her 20s. Police did not release the woman’s name.

“One minute she’s having a good time,” Linders said. “The next minute, she’s lying in her friends’ arms who are trying to save her life, and she didn’t make it. I can’t think of anything worse.”

In addition to the three men who were arrested, 11 people were hospitalized with gunshot wounds, said Linders, who described their injuries as not life-threatening. Police were trying to determine if there were other victims who may have left the scene and sought treatment on their own, he said.

Linders said that several “good Samaritans” helped tend to the victims until emergency responders could treat them.

“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 to human life and pull the trigger over and over and over and over again, and it ended in tragedy,” he said.

The Seventh Street Truck Park did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Sunday morning. No one answered the phone at the bar, which has a large food hall with food trucks inside.

Later Sunday morning, Mayor Melvin Carter of St. Paul condemned the violence.

“Our community is devastated by the shocking scenes from last night,” Carter said on Twitter. “As our Saint Paul officers work to bring those responsible for these senseless acts into custody, our work to build more proactive and comprehensive public safety strategies is more urgent than ever. We will never accept violence in our community.”

St. Paul is approaching a grim milestone for the number of homicides in Minnesota’s capital city.

The bar shooting Sunday morning brought the total number of homicides for the year to 32, according to police. Last year, there were 34 homicides, which The Pioneer Press reported tied a record set in 1992.

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., who represents St. Paul, lamented the loss of life in a series of tweets Sunday morning.