Two off-duty St. Paul officers rush to help during Oakdale theater shooting

Two off-duty officers rushed towards potential danger in the wake of a shooting inside a movie theater in Oakdale on June 28.

St. Paul Police Sgt. Thomas Diaz and Officer Mailia Yaung told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS “they had no choice” when a gunman shot a 23-year-old man inside the Marcus Oakdale Cinema.

The victim was hospitalized but survived the shooting, and the suspect ran out the back door of the theater and has not yet been arrested.

Oakdale Police said the shooting happened inside theater number 17 around 10 p.m. on June 28.

Sgt. Diaz and Officer Yaung were both off duty and watching a movie in a separate theater when they noticed people leaving and went out into the lobby area to see what was happening.

“Some people were saying something about a shooting, and some people were questioning if there was a shooting,” said Yaung.

Sgt. Diaz said he crossed paths with a young girl who was an employee at Marcus Oakdale Cinema, and she told him what was happening inside theater number 17.

“And, she made mention of something that there was a shooting, somebody was shot in the movie theater, and she was telling everyone to leave,” Diaz said.

Diaz and Yaung said they did not have any backup or body armor.

But they knew they had a responsibility, even though they were off-duty, to go inside theater number 17 and respond to the reported shooting.

“It’s tough for me because you just don’t know what’s going to happen, and then you have to go in there with absolutely nothing on and nothing to protect yourself,” said Diaz.

“I didn’t know what was happening, and I didn’t want anyone to get shot or myself get injured,” said Yaung. “So, I just kind of had to go from off-duty to on-duty at that moment.”