The man who St. Paul police officers fatally shot Thursday morning in Belle Plaine is believed to be the person who killed a woman in St. Paul’s Lowertown neighborhood on Wednesday, authorities say.

In a news conference Thursday afternoon, St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry explained how the situation unfolded in the community southwest of the Twin Cities.

Henry said St. Paul Police Department investigators identified a vehicle believed to belong to the homicide suspect and tracked it to an address on the 100 block of Meridian Street in Belle Plaine.

SPPD officers staked out the address and developed a plan to get anyone in the home out safely. Around 6:30 a.m. — before officers made contact with anyone in the house — the suspect emerged, and officers approached him. He was armed with a handgun, and two officers shot him, Henry said.

The man was airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he later died.

No St. Paul police officers were harmed.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension handles officer use-of-force investigations and will release more details on the specifics of what happened in the days ahead.

Family members identified the deceased suspect as 29-year-old Seantrell Murdock and said he was a father of four children.

A ‘cold-blooded’ crime

Henry and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said the city is shaken by the “cold-blooded” nature of the shooting behind the Lowertown Lofts Artist Cooperative on the 200 block of Kellogg Boulevard.

The police chief said surveillance footage shows the victim was on her knees painting a mural in the street when the gunman shot her.

“About as vulnerable as a person could be for someone that intended to do them harm,” Henry said.

Carter extended his condolences to the victim’s loved ones and said the shooting ended the life of a woman who was trying to make her city a better place.

“We are a community in mourning, to have lost a member of our community who was in the act of beautifying our community,” Carter said. “In the moment, all she was trying to do was give us an even more beautiful and enjoyable and peaceful community.”

“Somebody that loved community, that was an artist that vocalized the importance of art in community,” said Rep. Maria Isa Pérez-Vega, who knew the artist. “Somebody that saw hope and light and vision in our city and in the community of Lowertown.”

Pérez-Vega represents St. Paul and was planning to do door-knocking in the area with volunteers when the shooting happened.

“I heard some noises that did not sound like construction,” she described, explaining that she parked a block away.  “There was a large, massive response immediately that stopped traffic. I froze up a little bit, knew something was wrong, my phone started to blow up immediately.”

Several court records show that Murdock shouldn’t have had a gun in the first place.

He suffered from bipolar and schizoaffective disorders, court documents show. In 2023, a Scott County judge ordered him to be civilly committed, but that commitment was stayed. According to NAMI Minnesota, “a stay of commitment means that the court will not enforce the commitment as long as the person participates voluntarily in a treatment.”

Murdock was also a felon. Court documents show he was convicted of first-degree burglary in 2014.

Minnesota law states that people convicted of violent crimes and people who have been “confined in a treatment facility under the civil commitment law as mentally ill” are prohibited from possessing firearms.

At the beginning of the year, a law creating Extreme Risk Protection Orders went into place. It allows Minnesotans to petition the court to prevent someone from possessing a firearm if they pose a significant risk to themselves or others. Last session, the Legislature passed additional gun laws.

Pérez-Vega believes, however, this shooting highlights the need for stricter legislation.

“This is an epidemic that’s happening and it’s hit home, it continues to hit home,” she said. “This is not just about one policy initiative, this is about combining the necessity for social services, health and mental services and having community engaged in the public safety piece as well.”

She added, “It’s going to take action it’s going to take collaboration.”