St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter talks about the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence, including three officer-involved shootings, at the police headquarters in St. Paul on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. Behind him are Miki Frost, founder and director of 8218 Truce Centers, and Tyrone Terrill, president of the African American Leadership Council. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)The Rev. Richard Pittman Sr., NAACP Tri-State Conference president, speaks during a press conference to address the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence, including three officer involved shootings, at the police headquarters in St. Paul on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry answers questions during a press conference to address the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)The Rev. Melvin Miller, St. Paul Black Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance president, speaks about the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)Tyrone Terrill, African American Leadership Council president, talks about reaching out to boys and young men to give them positive guidance during a press conference to address the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence, including three officer involved shootings, at the police headquarters in St. Paul on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)Maria Maier of the St. Paul and Ramsey County Domestic Abuse Intervention Project speaks during a press conference to address the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence, including three officer involved shootings, at the police headquarters in St. Paul on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)Miki Frost, founder and director of 8218 Truce Centers, speaks during a press conference to address the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence, including three officer involved shootings, at the police headquarters in St. Paul on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)Brooke Blakey, director of the Office of Neighborhood Safety-St. Paul, speaks during a press conference to address the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence, including three officer involved shootings, at the police headquarters in St. Paul on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)Pastor Joe Webb IV speaks during a press conference to address the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence, including three officer involved shootings, at the police headquarters in St. Paul on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, backed up by St. Paul police, state, local and federal officials and community leaders, talks about the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence, including three officer involved shootings, at the police headquarters in St. Paul on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)Show Caption1 of 10St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter talks about the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence, including three officer-involved shootings, at the police headquarters in St. Paul on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. Behind him are Miki Frost, founder and director of 8218 Truce Centers, and Tyrone Terrill, president of the African American Leadership Council. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)Buy images from this galleryExpand With nine homicides in St. Paul in the last two months — about one-third of the killings in the city this year — St. Paul leaders are calling for anyone with information about people illegally carrying guns to come forward. Since the end of September, St. Paul officers have shot three homicide suspects who were allegedly armed with guns when they encountered them. Though efforts to reduce gun violence in St. Paul have been showing success, “we’ve experienced a very disturbing outlier,” St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said of the recent homicides. “That’s nine too many” on top of the homicides that already happened this year, he said. Overall, St. Paul has experienced 28 homicides this year, the same number as last year at this time. The number of people injured in shootings has decreased. When someone fires a gun, “there’s a spouse, there’s a friend, there’s a cousin, there’s a girlfriend, there’s a mother, a father, a grandparent, somebody who knew that that person had a gun and shouldn’t have had,” Mayor Melvin Carter said at a Thursday news conference. “That’s right. Say it again, mayor,” chimed in Tyrone Terrill, African American Leadership Council president. 556 guns recovered this year Carter said he knows some people are afraid to call police, but he said it’s “the best thing you can do to keep that person from doing harm to themselves, from doing harm to someone else, from doing harm to your family, is to make sure that we have the information that we need for our big team to be able to engage and intercede.” Carter asked people to take action by calling the St. Paul police non-emergency number at 651-291-1111, saying they can make a tip anonymously. St. Paul officers have recovered 556 firearms in the city this year. “That’s a form of prevention,” Henry said. “We’ll never know exactly how many of those guns being recovered have stopped another crime.” Every week, “we have examples of our officers safely taking violent and armed people into custody with little or no use of force,” Henry said. This year, St. Paul officers have arrested 329 people who weren’t eligible to have a gun or didn’t have a permit, with 80 percent of them banned by state law because of a previous conviction. “That’s more than one day,” Henry said. “Those are the stories you don’t hear about. Good decisions by our officers and … good decisions by those people being arrested are contributing to many of those successes.” Fewer people injured in shootings St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry answers questions during a press conference to address the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence. (John Autey / Pioneer Press) The nine homicides between Sept. 17 and Nov. 4  in St. Paul have happened under various circumstances. They’ve involved domestic assault, road rage and a dispute over money. “They cross the spectrum … but they almost all fall into this category: They involve guns and they involve terrible decisions,” Henry said. When Henry became police chief at the end of 2022, there were 193 people wounded by gunfire that year. “Our officers … and our partnerships were able to reduce those numbers” to 122 last year, Henry said. This year, there have been 95 people injured in shootings. People can turn in guns with no questions asked. Community leaders who took part in Thursday’s news conference, and many who weren’t there, “stand ready to broker whatever trust divide is preventing people from calling out the behavior in advance,” Henry said. With police saying they can’t arrest their way out of the problem, St. Paul’s Office of Neighborhood Safety works with officers and life coaches who have contacted more than 30 people involved with group or gun violence to offer support, but also “let them know that there’s accountability if they’re not willing to engage in those supports,” said Brooke Blakey, the officer’s director. The Rev. Melvin Miller, St. Paul Black Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance president, speaks about the recent spate of St. Paul gun violence. (John Autey / Pioneer Press) Related Articles Crime & Public Safety | Dozens of newly planted trees along St. Paul’s Shepard Road uprooted or damaged in ‘senseless’ act of vandalism Crime & Public Safety | St. Paul man gets 13-year federal prison term in drug smuggling ring that mailed fentanyl pills in stuffed animals Crime & Public Safety | Ex-Viking Everson Griffen gets 60-day sentence, probation for driving drunk in Minneapolis Crime & Public Safety | MN Supreme Court orders new trial for man convicted of killing robber outside Eagan hotel Crime & Public Safety | DWI charges: Off-duty St. Paul officer was twice the legal limit in fiery crash into building The Rev. Melvin Miller, president of the St. Paul Black Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, said they want to “dispel the myth” that there is no hope and to show young people that there are opportunities. “If you find a young person is stressed and is challenged and is about to make a bad choice, please reach out,” Miller said. Terrill said an 18-year-old told him the night before that, for the last six weeks, all he’d dreamed about was being killed. “It was a tough conversation,” he said, adding that community mentors plan to spend more time with the young man. He said the teen’s father was sent to prison about a year ago for having a large amount of fentanyl. “If men stand up, little boys will sit down,” Terrill added. The NAACP, African American Leadership Council and ministerial alliance are planning a summit in December and are determining the date. Shootings by police The shootings by St. Paul police remain under investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. On Sept. 26, officers fatally shot a man in Belle Plaine who they said was armed with a gun when they encountered him and was suspected of killing Carrie Shobe Kwok, 66, as she painted outside her Lowertown loft the day before. On Oct. 28, officers shot and critically injured a man at busy Snelling and University avenues. A camera showed he pointed a gun at officers. He is charged in a triple murder in Minneapolis from Oct. 27. Last weekend, officers shot and killed a man who had a warrant out for his arrest for the murder of his pregnant wife, Damara Kirkland, 35. Police said he had a gun when they encountered him.