Police: Stray bullets from St. Paul shooting nearly hit toddler
Charges filed against a St. Paul teenager say stray bullets from a shooting near Allianz Field on Sunday night nearly hit a nearby toddler.
Prosecutors allege the 16-year-old was among a group of young men in a gunfight behind a laundromat on University Avenue, firing as the Minnesota United playoff game went on across the street.
The teen charged was wounded, as was another person. None of the wounds were life-threatening. The teen was discharged from Regions Hospital and taken to the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center.
The charges also say that a woman with her young niece and toddler son were in a car backing out of a parking space in the laundromat lot when a bullet pierced the right rear passenger door, missing the boy buckled in his car seat by inches. No one else was hurt in the shooting.
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Police also recovered a handgun and 16 shell casings from two weapons at the scene.
It was the second time in three weeks a child was involved in a St. Paul shooting. A boy suffered a gunshot wound to the foot when his father was slain by gunfire in the car seat beside him on Oct. 5.
St. Paul mayor Melvin Carter announced hours after the Sunday shooting that the city was launching a second gun violence initiative in as many months, and said Monday he was proposing a supplemental city budget for 2020 to address the issue.