Police took a person of interest into custody as investigators searched for evidence and worked to determine what led to the violence.

ST. PAUL, MN — Three adults were found dead Monday afternoon inside the leasing office of an apartment complex in St. Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood, prompting a large police response and an hourslong search of the surrounding area.

Officers were sent to the 1500 block of St. Paul Avenue at about 4:10 p.m. after reports of gunfire, according to police. They entered the leasing office and found the three victims dead. Their names had not been released by early Tuesday, and police did not immediately disclose whether they lived or worked at the complex.

A person of interest was taken into custody Monday night, the St. Paul Police Department said in a social media update shortly before 10 p.m. Police did not identify that person, describe any possible connection to the victims or announce criminal charges. Investigators were still working to determine what led to the shooting.

Police evacuated residents from part of the complex while officers secured the area. A large number of law enforcement vehicles gathered near St. Paul Avenue and Davern Street, and police tape restricted access to nearby buildings as investigators searched for evidence.

Officers also focused on another apartment building in the 1300 block of St. Paul Avenue during the search. Police carrying long guns called for someone to leave an apartment and used less-lethal rounds through a second-floor window. Police Chief Axel Henry later said officers did not find a suspect at that location.

Henry said investigators executed at least one search warrant Monday. He said it was too early to determine whether the victims knew the person responsible or whether the shooting was connected to their work, housing or another relationship.

“This is an unbelievably big tragedy for our city,” Henry said during an evening news conference. “It will not be accepted.”

The deaths were being investigated as the city’s ninth, 10th and 11th homicides of 2026, according to police. The shooting followed other recent gun violence in the Twin Cities, including a St. Paul shooting two days earlier that killed one person and wounded two others. Authorities had not established a connection between the cases.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office will identify the victims and determine their official causes of death. Police said the investigation remained active, and no information about a suspected motive or the circumstances before the gunfire had been released.

Author note: Last updated July 21, 2026.

Nine Wounded in Shooting Outside Minneapolis Nightclub

Two men suffered life-threatening injuries after gunfire erupted outside the Reign Event Center in the city’s Uptown neighborhood.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Nine people were wounded in a shooting outside a crowded nightclub early Sunday, including two men who suffered life-threatening injuries, Minneapolis police said. No arrests had been announced by Sunday afternoon.

Officers were called shortly before 12:30 a.m. to the Reign Event Center in the 2900 block of Hennepin Avenue. Police said gunfire followed an altercation outside the venue, where a large crowd had gathered. Investigators were working to determine who fired and whether some shots came from a vehicle.

The victims were seven men and two women between the ages of 18 and 27, according to police. Four injured people were found near the nightclub, while five others went to hospitals on their own or were taken there separately. Police said Sunday afternoon that both critically wounded men were expected to survive.

Officers reached the scene less than a minute after the first report of gunfire, authorities said. Police from all five city precincts were called to help manage the crowd, assist the wounded and secure the area for investigators.

A 20-year-old man with life-threatening injuries was among the four people found at the scene. The others were a 21-year-old man and two women, ages 22 and 27, whose injuries were not considered life-threatening. They were taken to Hennepin Healthcare.

An 18-year-old man later arrived at Hennepin Healthcare with a gunshot wound that was not considered life-threatening. Four other men went to Abbott Northwestern Hospital. One, a 21-year-old, had life-threatening injuries and was transferred to Hennepin Healthcare. The remaining three men, ages 20, 21 and 22, were expected to survive.

Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Bill Peterson described the shooting as a brazen act in a busy entertainment district that placed many bystanders at risk. Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette said preventing further violence would require cooperation among police, government agencies and community members.

The city’s Firearm Assault Shoot Team is leading the investigation with support from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and county law enforcement agencies. Police said forensic specialists collected evidence from the scene and investigators were pursuing leads, but officials did not release information about possible suspects or the cause of the initial altercation.

Mayor Jacob Frey called the shooting intolerable and said the city would work to identify and arrest those responsible. Ward 7 Council Member Elizabeth Shaffer said she planned to meet with the nightclub’s owners as city officials considered the shooting’s effect on the surrounding Uptown neighborhood.

The same block was the scene of another mass shooting in June 2020, when 11 people were wounded. Authorities have not reported any connection between that case, the Reign Event Center or Sunday’s shooting.

No arrests had been made as of Sunday afternoon. Police continued reviewing evidence, interviewing witnesses and investigating whether gunfire came from a moving or parked vehicle.

Author note: Last updated July 19, 2026.