Charges: Man shot at St. Paul officer over a dozen times, used armor-piercing ammo

A man who allegedly shot at St. Paul officers with an AR-style rifle is now formally charged.

Samuel Cal Flowers, 27, faces several felony counts, including:

• Attempted second-degree murder
• First-degree assault
• Illegal firearm possession
• Drive-by shooting
• Fifth-degree drug possession
• Fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle
• Refusing to submit to a DWI test

As previously reported, an officer tried to pull Flowers over for speeding around 11 p.m. on Monday. According to court documents, Flowers sped off.

The officer found the vehicle parked between two other cars on the west shoulder of Ravoux Street and tried to block it in, but Flowers sped off again.

While the vehicle was around 60 yards ahead of the squad car, the officer saw muzzle flashes from inside the car. He then heard gunshots and saw the suspect car’s back window break, court documents state.

The officer estimated that 10-12 rounds had been fired at him, but he was not hit by gunfire. The squad’s front passenger tire had been shot, though, and was flattened.

Flowers hit a parked car on the 800 block of Fuller Avenue and came to a stop. Other officers arriving at the scene confirmed that his rear window was broken out, court documents state.

While arresting Flowers, officers found suspected drugs on his person. They also recovered a Ruger AR-556 and 14 spent casings from inside Flowers’ vehicle. The rifle had a round of armor-piercing ammo in its chamber and two rounds of armor-piercing ammo in its magazine. Court documents add that the rifle had been reported stolen in 2018 in Minneapolis.

Flowers was brought to the hospital after complaining about head and ear pain from the crash — he was evaluated and discharged. While at the hospital, officers noticed that Flowers seemed impaired, but he refused to let the nurse collect a blood sample, according to court documents.

The bag of suspected drugs found on Flowers’ person tested positive for 0.39 grams of cocaine.

The reported crimes occurred while Flowers was already charged with illegal firearm possession. In that case, he was accused of having a gun eight days after being released from prison.

Court documents note that Flowers also has prior felony convictions for drive-by shooting and first-degree assault.

The assault charge was initially an attempted murder charge, but he took a plea deal. According to court documents, Flowers and another man shot a drug dealer five times — four of which were in the victim’s back.

The drive-by shooting was gang-related.