3 dead in shooting inside St. Paul apartment leasing office
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Authorities on Tuesday released the names of the three people fatally shot at an apartment complex leasing office in St. Paul on Monday afternoon.
A suspect in the shooting — a 30-year-old man from St. Paul — was arrested Monday night on the Iron Range in northern Minnesota, nearly 200 miles north of the Twin Cities. He remained in custody on Tuesday pending charges.
Authorities have not released any information about what led up to the gunfire, or any connection between the suspect and the victims.
The shooting happened just after 4 p.m. Monday at a building along St. Paul Avenue between West Seventh and Davern streets.
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The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office on Tuesday identified the victims as Nansi G. Fuentes Zambrano, 25, of Inver Grove Heights; Dena M. Silcox, 56, of St. Paul; and Adam J. Wilwerding, 43, of Oakdale.
“Our thoughts go out to the victims, their families, and their friends,” St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said at a news conference Monday night. “This is an unbelievably big tragedy for our city.”
The suspect was arrested by St. Louis County sheriff’s deputies in the city of Virginia, and transported back to St. Paul. MPR News generally does not name suspects until they are charged with a crime.
A search of the man’s name in Minnesota court records shows only four parking tickets, and no past criminal charges.
The most recent parking citation, from last fall, listed his address as an apartment on St. Paul Avenue — a short distance from Monday’s shooting scene.
Henry addressed the suspect during the Monday night news conference, held before authorities announced that a person was in custody.
“Turn yourself in, because we will find you and we will hold you accountable,” Henry said. “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.”
Henry said police had previous contact with the suspect. He did not provide further details.
Authorities evacuated residents of the apartment complex after the shooting and executed a search warrant at a nearby building.
St. Paul has now recorded 11 homicides so far this year. Last year, the city did not reach that mark until late October.
Monday afternoon’s shooting follows another shooting in the city’s Frogtown neighborhood on Saturday morning that left one person dead and two others injured.
And there were two mass shootings in Minneapolis on Sunday, that cumulatively left one person dead and 13 others injured.
Authorities have not indicated there is any connection between any of those incidents.
