St. Paul shooting victim dies shortly after city leaders plea to public to end gun violence

A 24-year-old St. Paul man who was shot in the head earlier this month died from his injuries Friday, shortly after a range of city and community leaders made a public plea about gun violence in the state’s capital.

The homicide marks the city’s 10th since mid-September – eight of which were committed by firearms, according to a Minnesota Star Tribune database.

On Monday, police announced the death of Dejuan Hemphill, 24, of St. Paul, who was found shot Nov. 5 just before 5 p.m. in the area of Rice Street and University Avenue West in the city’s Frogtown neighborhood.

No arrests have been made. The Star Tribune was unable to locate members of Hemphill’s family Monday.

Last week, the city’s mayor, police chief and community officials decried the problematic behavior and asked the public to secure the firearms they own and help police confiscate illegally carried weapons.

“We know there are folks who carry because they want to feel safe,” said Mayor Melvin Carter, who added that St. Paul police clear almost all its homicide investigations. “We can keep people safe. St Paul is not a place to fire a gun.”

In the last two months, St. Paul has seen 10 homicides committed in the city, which includes a fatal police shooting Nov. 9 and other incidents that involved domestic violence, robbery and drugs, according to Police Chief Axel Henry.

“They cross the spectrum and so they don’t all fall in neat categories,” he said. “But they almost all fall in this category: they involve guns and they involve terrible decisions and they involve a level of violence we can’t accept in our city.”

Officials implored members of the public to take action when they notice someone who carries firearms and acts in a concerning manner.

They said taking action could take the form of calling police; calling the city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety, which offers crisis intervention services; calling a domestic violence shelter or hotline; or using the state’s new red-flag law, which can confiscate guns from people considered a danger to themselves or others.

“You’re not a snitch. You’re a community leader when that stuff happens,” said Pastor Joseph Webb IV.

The homicide of Hemphill is St. Paul’s 28th of the year, compared to 29 as of the same date in 2023. Homicides have generally fallen locally and nationally since 2021, but they remain elevated compared with 2019 in many U.S. cities, including Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The U.S. saw a historic 30% increase in homicides in 2020, which criminologists attribute to the widespread effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from the police murder of George Floyd.

Gun buying and gun carrying also increased since 2020. Henry said his department this year has recovered almost two guns every day.

Henry said gun owners must secure their weapons at home; avoid leaving them in cars, where they can be targeted by thieves; and think more critically about why they carry guns in the first place.

“Part of the problem is of course we have people who have access to firearms, who carry firearms, sometimes for very legitimate reasons, but then are making really bad choices in the moment,” he said.

Still, Henry and other officials touted St. Paul’s progress in reducing gun violence since 2022, but emphasized incidents were still all too common.

He said St. Paul saw a 37% drop in nonfatal shooting victims in 2023, when 122 people were injured. As of Thursday, the city had seen 95 people injured this year.

“None of us, even with the improvements, are happy with these outcomes,” he said. “We don’t want people being shot in our city.”

Anyone with information about the Nov. 5 homicide is asked to contact St. Paul police at 651-266-5650.