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Husband killed, wife shot in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood

Police are investigating the city's 27th homicide of 2019.

ST PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul police are investigating a shooting that left a man dead and his wife injured. 

According to police, a woman called 911 to report a shooting in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul early Friday morning. 

Officers arrived on the 1300 block of Davern Street around 2:15 am, and found a man dead in the driver's seat of an SUV. A woman sitting in the passenger side had a gunshot wound to her leg. She was taken to Regions Hospital and treated for her injuries. Police don't believe the injury is life threatening. 

The man was identified as David Lee, 32, of Oakdale. 

Credit: KARE
Police say it appears the actual shooting happened at a nearby scene, and then the SUV accelerated until it crashed into a building.

St. Paul Police spokesman Steve Linders says the preliminary investigation suggests that the incident was not random. He says the actual shooting took place on one scene, and then the SUV rolled down the road, coming to a stop in front of an apartment complex. Homicide Unit and the Forensic Services Unit are both investigating. No arrests have been made at this time. 

"I heard this women screaming," recalled neighborhood resident Mary Kay Klosner. "it was pretty scary. I didn’t have any idea what was going on. I certainly didn’t think anyone was shot."

"I thought kids were playing with firecrackers because of Halloween and I just heard like six really big shots," added resident Hortense Burnaugh. "It was just sad that someone lost their life and the poor lady it had to be terrifying."

Credit: KARE
Neighbor Hortense Burnaugh figured since it was Halloween the noises that sounded like shots were probably firecrackers. Sadly, she was wrong.

It is clear police are growing more and more frustrated that even stepped-up efforts on the street can't seem to slow down the deadly streak the city is enduring.

"This is the 27th homicide of the year in St. Paul, the third in a week," police spokesman Steve Linders shared. " It's frustrating and it's concerning, to say the least, and I can tell you everybody at the St. Paul Police Department, from our patrol officers to our investigators to leadership. We're all 100 [percent committed to addressing this problem." 

Linders shared that the department feels it is making progress in the tide of violence sweeping over the city, telling reporters that officers have taken a number of illegal weapons off the streets in recent weeks. 

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call the St. Paul Police Department at (651) 266-5650. 

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