Violent crime is down in St. Paul. Here’s what’s working.

Rayvon Bruce, a 17-year-old whose uncle was shot and killed roughly two years ago, knows the toll gun violence takes on his St. Paul community all too well.

In the same year, his circle was devastated by the death of Devin Scott, a 15-year-old who was fatally stabbed in a fight on his first day attending Harding High School. But so far in 2025, Bruce — who once carried a gun himself for protection until it got him trouble with the law — said he’s noticed the violence is seeming to ebb compared to recent years.

“Right now, St. Paul is calming down,” said Bruce, who now works as one of the teen leaders of the community nonprofit group World Youth Connect.

Up until May 28, St. Paul went without a homicide by firearm in 2025 — the three others that occurred were stabbings. As of May 29, St. Paul had a roughly 51% decrease in nonfatal shootings so far in 2025 compared to the same period last year. The city has seen four homicides this year, compared to 11 at this time last year.

So, what’s contributed to the positive trend?

St. Paul Police Cmdr. Nikkole Peterson and Assistant Chief Paul Ford credit a joint effort between the department’s new nonfatal shooting unit, along with Ramsey County prosecutors, and the city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety which works with outreach groups such as World Youth Connect.

The idea for the police department’s nonfatal shooting unit came after Mayor Melvin Carter met with Police Chief Axel Henry and asked him why the city had such a low rate of solving nonfatal shootings, despite having a much higher rate for solving homicides.

St. Paul police has consistently ranked among the best cities for homicide “clearance rate” — how often police close a case through an arrest or an exceptional reason such as a suspect dying. It ranged from 89% to 93% clearance rate for homicides since 2020.

Meanwhile only 21% of nonfatal shootings were cleared in St. Paul in 2021. That rate rose slightly but still remained low in 2022 and 2023.

To fix this, police decided to create a team dedicated to investigating nonfatal shootings with the same speed, level of resources, and intensity as homicides. It was modeled after a similar unit created by Denver police, and in late 2023 officials from St. Paul police, Ramsey County and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension flew to Colorado to study Denver’s success.

St. Paul police picked a team of eight investigators for the unit led by Peterson, while a community engagement specialist was added to the department to build connections with the victims and surrounding community.

After the unit launched in January 2024, St. Paul’s clearance rate for nonfatal shootings nearly doubled, from 38% in 2023 to 71% in 2024.

Prior to the unit’s creation, nonfatal shooting investigations relied more heavily on victim statements, and in many cases the victims would not be cooperative, Peterson said.

The investigations were also slower. When someone was shot and survived, the case wouldn’t be assigned to an investigator until the next day, and maybe longer if it was the weekend. Now, the nonfatal unit responds in real time just like in the case of a homicide.

Instead of focusing on statements, the nonfatal shooting unit takes a more evidence-based approach, relying on surveillance cameras, cell phone information and forensic evidence. The investigators approach the cases the same as a homicide, meaning they will file multiple search warrants and re-interview victims if needed.

“There’s really no magic that happens, you just have to work the cases, which is exactly what we have really focused on,” Peterson said.

The unit’s work is also contributing to the city’s low homicide count for 2025, Peterson noted, since perpetrators are more often being arrested and don’t have a chance to reoffend.

“If you’re shooting at someone, your intent is to kill someone,” she said. “So if we’re working on solving those and taking their guns away and holding them accountable, we’ve seen that it has translated currently to reduced homicide rates as well.”

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi’s office has been working closely with the new unit, and has a dedicated prosecutor who’s assigned to the nonfatal cases and makes sure investigators get the required evidence to charge the suspect.

The unit was created using a $2.9 million grant from the state that is funding it through the end of 2026. Ford, who helped pick the investigators for the unit, said while he wasn’t shocked that the clearance rate went up, it’s been a bigger jump than he anticipated.

“I had no doubt that we were going to see the clearance rate and solvability rates go up, but not at that level,” Ford said.

Minneapolis police do not have a nonfatal shooting unit. But the city’s department is currently in talks with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to create a new team of investigators for shootings, Minneapolis Chief Brian O’Hara said in an email.

“The problem is staffing and the volume of investigations,” O’Hara said. “I believe every nonfatal shooting should be treated like a homicide, but in order to do that, we need a significant increase in manpower.”

While St. Paul police are taking front-end measures to stop shootings, community groups like World Youth Connect have played an important role by building positive relationships and interrupting violence before it can happen.

The group, co-founded in 2021 by Ofir Germanic and CEO DeJiohn Brooks, regularly holds youth-led meetings for boys and girls, and encourages members to resolve their issues peacefully instead of retaliating with violence. They are funded by the city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety, and Brooks said all of its members are compensated by either a stipend or a payment of at least $15 per hour.

Brooks described the group’s mission as giving the city’s youth a way to have positive connections instead of turning to violence, as well as leadership opportunities.

“We want to uplift opportunities for our young people and really just push connections, and having relationships with people, in more of a positive light,” Brooks said.

Bruce was led to World Youth Connect while he was on probation for an illegal gun possession charge, which he said stems from the fear instilled by his uncle’s murder.

“For him to just get shot and killed by a bullet made me feel like I needed to carry a gun to protect myself and my family,” he said.

Police stopped him because he fit the description of a different youth suspect they were looking for, Bruce said. They arrested him after finding the gun.

The nonprofit has given Bruce a new outlook on life, as well as a welcoming community setting where he can openly share his experiences without fear of feeling judged.

“They gave me an outlet to express myself and feel heard,” Bruce said.

The teen said he recently found himself having a pleasant conversation with someone who in the past he would have fought with. With roughly 50 to 60 youth members, Bruce and Brooks said they’re confident World Youth Connect is assisting with reducing the city’s shooting totals.

Beyond group conversation, World Youth Connect’s leaders have organized events to hand out gun locks so families can prevent their children from using guns, and meetings with police officers in a casual setting to educate kids about their jobs and services they provide.

On May 16, Germanic and Brooks brought some of World Youth Connect’s young leaders to a convention in Minneapolis to highlight their work. A couple of the kids said it was their first ever time in downtown Minneapolis.

They got a chance to talk about their work with Attorney General Keith Ellison who was speaking at the event. Asked about St. Paul’s positive trends in reducing shootings, Ellison agreed that it’s due to a group effort that includes law enforcement and nonprofits such as World Youth Connect that he says play a vital role.

“What stops a kid from settling a score with a gun? Well, it’s intervention of their peers and friends,” Ellison said in an interview. “It’s somebody saying you don’t have to handle it like that.”