A St. Paul, Minnesota, man was shot and killed Wednesday after leaving a Bible study class, police say.
The incident occurred at around 8:40 Wednesday evening as a group of people were leaving Albans Church of God in Christ, a Summit-University neighborhood church near the intersection of Fuller Avenue and St. Albans Street North, according to Fox 9.
The St. Paul Police Department reported that after the victim was shot, his father drew his legally concealed pistol and returned fire. Police do not know if the victim’s father hit the assailant.
The victim ran off after being shot and police followed his blood trail, finding him a short distance away, shot in the abdomen and lying on a sidewalk dead with his Bible lying beside him.
“Why anyone would shoot into a crowd in a neighborhood while people are leaving church is incomprehensible,” St. Paul police spokesman Steve Linders said. “At this point, investigators do not believe this was a random shooting, but until we find the person or people responsible, we won’t know for sure.”
“Our investigators tell us right now that preliminary information indicates that this wasn’t random, that we don’t have people just shooting randomly into neighborhoods, into churches, into groups of people,” Linders added. “But that’s little consolation when we have a father [with] a son who is now dead.”
The churchgoer’s death is the sixth homicide this month in St. Paul and the 20th for the year.
The police asked anyone with information to call the St. Paul Police Department’s homicide unit at 651-266-5650. The police stressed that all information could remain anonymous.