A father who was shot and killed early Saturday morning in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul has been identified by family as 44-year-old Michael Brasel.

He is survived by his wife, Hilary, and their two boys.

In a Facebook post, Hilary Brasel said her husband was shot three times after confronting a man trying to break into her car. 

“Ever the protector and good man, he stood up for me with his last effort and breath …he was one in a million and I have no idea how to do this life without him,” she wrote.

St. Paul police say they are working on that same theory. So far, investigators think Brasel interrupted a crime in progress outside his home on the 2300 block of Chilcombe Avenue and was shot to death in the front walkway leading to his house.

One neighbor, Nancy Larkey, said she came by the Brasels’ house to deliver a card because the neighborhood was devastated by the Saturday incident.

“Can you imagine how sad those people are? I mean, that’s just plain heartbreaking for them to lose their dad out of the clear blue,” Larkey said. “It never even occurred to me that somebody of ill repute — and I am putting it politely — would do such a dreadful thing.”

Neighbor Mike Hesano said the entire neighborhood is suspended in an air of disbelief right now.

“I woke up to the sirens and looked out the front door and saw a bunch of people and an ambulance and the fire trucks,” Hesano said. “Just shocked. I mean, this is such a good, quiet neighborhood, and this doesn’t happen here. So, shocked.”

A St. Paul police spokesperson said no arrests have been made in the case.

A GoFundMe page has been started to support the Brasel family.