One of the two men killed in unrelated shootings early Sunday in St. Paul has been identified.
Authorities on Monday named the victim as 20-year-old Blake Richard Swanson of Bethel, Minnesota. Police say Swanson was found at about 3:15 a.m. on Raspberry Island after a 911 caller reported a robbery and shooting. He was hospitalized, but police say he died a short time later.
According to police, witnesses said Swanson and his friends were in St. Paul to ride scooters. They had been doing this for several weeks.
Witnesses reportedly said a person climbed into a vehicle, pulled a gun, robbed a woman and shot Swanson. On Nov. 19, police announced that they've made an arrest in connection to Swanson's death.
The victim from the other early Sunday morning shooting, a man in his 30s, has not yet been identified. Police say that man arrived at a local hospital in a private vehicle at about 12:15 a.m. He had at least one gunshot wound and was rushed to surgery, but died a short time later.
Police said the person who drove the man to the hospital has been questioned, and added that the vehicle had bullet holes in the windshield.
According to police, the man was shot in a parking ramp on the 400 block of Jackson Street. Investigators do not believe it was a random shooting.
The two shootings, while unrelated, were mere hours apart. Police say as of Monday at noon, no arrests have been made in either case.
These were the 19th and 20th homicides of the year in St. Paul. Another young man was killed in a third unrelated shooting Sunday night.
