Police ID St. Paul man who killed himself in standoff

Police have identified the man who killed himself during a standoff with police Tuesday night as Vadim Anatolevech Chapachy, 40, of St. Paul.

Authorities were called to the 1000 block of South Finn St., near the Ford Plant in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood, shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday on a report of a domestic assault.

When they arrived, officers were let into the home by two boys, ages 14 and 10, who told police their mother had been assaulted by her boyfriend.

When officers went inside to check on the condition of the woman, they determined that Chapachy was holding the woman against her will behind a closed bedroom door, according to St. Paul Police Sgt. Paul Schnell.

Schnell said when officers announced their presence, Chapachy fired two shots through the door out to the room where the officers were standing. No one was hit by the bullets, Schnell said.

Officers immediately left the house and set up a perimeter. A SWAT team was called to the scene along with negotiators, who were on the phone with the man for about 45 minutes, Schnell said. In all, about 40 officers responded to the scene.

At some point during the negotiations, Chapachy discontinued the conversation, and moments later the woman came out of the house and told police that Chapachy had shot himself.

Chapachy was pronounced dead at the scene, Schnell said. Neither one of the children was hurt.

Schnell said investigators believe Chapachy died from a "single, self-inflicted gunshot wound."

On Wednesday, officials continued to investigate the incident.

"We get these barricaded situations and sometimes they end positively. Often times they end up in self-inflicted gunshot wounds or suicide, and this one did," Schnell said.