St. Paul police arrest 'person of interest' in shooting deaths of woman, two children
Updated: Feb. 1, 12:55 p.m. | Posted: Jan 31, 8:34 p.m.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office has identified the three people killed in a shooting in St. Paul on Saturday.
The victims were 31-year-old D'Zondria Wallace and her two children, 14-year-old La'Porsha Wallace and 11-year-old Ja'Corbie Wallace.
All three died from their injuries after they were shot at a home on the 700 block of Jessie Street, about a mile northeast of downtown.
St. Paul police reported Sunday night that a 26-year-old man has been taken into custody in connection with Saturday's shooting deaths of a woman and her two children.
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Police Chief Todd Axtell reported in a Facebook post that the man was arrested by a SWAT team just before 7:30 p.m. Sunday at an apartment building on the 2100 block of Wilson Avenue, on the city’s east side, about four miles from where the shooting occurred. He remains in the Ramsey County jail.
Authorities said he was being interviewed by investigators, and they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the shooting.
“I’m so proud of everyone involved in the investigation — and there were many, sworn and civilian alike,” Axtell wrote. “Your SPPD officers worked swiftly, professionally and always in the interest of the victims, their loved ones and the entire city.”
The shooting was reported just after 3 p.m. Saturday at a home on the 700 block of Jessie Street, about a mile northeast of downtown.
A woman in her 30s and a girl in her early teens were pronounced dead at the scene. A boy, who police said was about 8 to 12 years old, was transported to Regions Hospital and died several hours later.
Axtell called it a "hellish" scene and wrote in an earlier Facebook post that officers were "looking for the person who inflicted so much unthinkable pain on the victims, their loved ones, and the entire city."
Police said they did not believe it was a random crime.
A police officer had been at the residence about an hour before the shooting was reported, on a welfare check called in by a concerned family member who lives out of town.
The officer spoke with a woman at the door of the home, and police said she told the officer she was OK. She declined an offer to speak with the relative by phone. It's believed that the woman at the door was the woman who later died in the shooting.