St. Paul police investigate fatal shooting

St. Paul Police are investigating an overnight homicide on the 300 block of Burgess Street, just north of downtown. Public information officer Sgt. Mike Ernster said officers responded to a report of shots fired at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. He said police found evidence of a shooting on the block, but no victim.

"A few minutes later an adult male was dropped off at Regions Hospital suffering from an apparent gunshot wound," said Ernster. "Regions Hospital staff treated this male for his injuries, but he later was pronounced dead at Regions hospital in the early morning hours."

This is the 10th homicide in St Paul this year, slightly ahead of the pace of killings in 2016.

Ernster said police are investigating whether there is any link to the other recent violence.

"Obviously investigators will be looking at all sorts of cases to see if there is any relationship between those cases and this one," he said. "Right now I think its too early to determine whether it's related to any other shootings."

The victim has not been identified yet. But Ernster says witnesses are cooperating, and police have gathered evidence from the shooting scene.