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Crime, Law and Justice
Tim Nelson and Riham Feshir
St. Paul

Three people shot, woman struck by car as Minnesota State Fair closes

Police cars are parked outside of a gate at night.
St. Paul police posted this photo on social media of the scene of a pedestrian crash that gravely injured a 19-year-old woman just outside the main gate of the Minnesota State Fair on Sept. 2, 2019.
Courtesy St. Paul Police Department via Twitter

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Updated: 4:15 p.m. | Posted: 5:46 a.m.

Three people were wounded by gunfire and a 19-year-old woman was badly injured when she was hit by a car just outside the main gate of the Minnesota State Fair late Monday night.

No arrests have been made in the shooting, although two women and a man were arrested at Regions Hospital for riot related to the shooting as confrontations broke out between family members of at least one of the victims, St. Paul police told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

The pedestrian remains in critical but stable condition and the driver was not impaired, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesperson, adding it’s still not clear if the pedestrian crash was related.

The chaos outside the fair began with a fight on Snelling Avenue about 10 p.m. Monday, just as the fair was closing for the final night of its 12-day run.

Officers directing traffic near the fair’s main gate said they found the 19-year-old in the road who had been hit by a car about a block north of the main fair gate. Police say bystanders attacked the car, which drove off but stopped a short distance away. The driver called 911 to report the crash.

Police officers stand by a police car at night.
St. Paul police say they were called to a shooting at Midway Parkway and Snelling Avenue, shortly after a young woman was struck and injured by a car about a block away. Three young men suffered gunshot wounds in that incident.
Courtesy of St. Paul Police Department via Twitter

Police said while they were attending to the woman and redirecting traffic, shots rang out just outside the main gate.

They found a man with a gunshot wound and put him in an ambulance. Another man wounded by gunfire later showed up at United Hospital and another at Regions Hospital in St. Paul.

A 20-year-old was shot in the stomach or groin area, another 20-year-old man was shot in the hand and an 18-year-old was shot in the shoulder, authorities said. Police said two guns were used.

Gov. Tim Walz called the shootings another case of gun violence shattering a sense of community.

Walz said he will continue to push for gun safety measures in the next legislative session. He again urged Republicans in the Minnesota Senate to hold an interim hearing on gun issues.

The crash and shootings by the fair capped a night of chaos in St. Paul Monday that also included a fatal shooting of a man on the 1700 block of Ivy Avenue East just after 8:30 p.m. Thomas Harrigan, 36, an off-duty firefighter, was shot at his home and died later at the hospital, St. Paul Firefighters Local 21 said Monday.

No one has been arrested in that case, but police say they do not believe the shooting was random.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.