2 fatally shot, 3 injured after celebration of life event at Minnesota senior center

Two men were killed and several others injured in a devastating shooting that followed a “celebration of life” party at a St. Paul, Minn., senior living apartment complex, police said.

Five people were struck in the barrage of bullets in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood around 5:15 p.m. Saturday — a “chaotic scene” that unfolded in a parking lot after the event, police said.

One man was in critical condition, a woman was in stable condition and another woman was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, Fox 9 reported.

St. Paul Fire medics were called to the bloody scene, but some victims were taken to local hospitals in private vehicles.

One of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene; another died at United Hospital.

According to police, a preliminary investigation indicates the violence erupted in the parking lot of Kings Crossing by Episcopal Homes, an apartment building that offers housing for low-income seniors 62 years old and up after a celebration of life event “attended by many people.”

One senior resident told CBS Minnesota there were “a couple hundred” people at the celebration.

A shooting motive hasn’t been determined, but police investigators don’t believe it was random. There were no immediate arrests.

Saturday’s stunning violence was the second shooting in the city over the weekend. Three teenage boys were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds Friday night after a shooting at a memorial service for a student fatally stabbed at an area high school.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz condemned the weekend’s violent events.

“The gun violence in St. Paul this weekend is unacceptable,” Walz tweeted Saturday night. “I’m committed to increasing public safety funding, getting illegal guns off the streets, and addressing gang activity to curb the cycle of violence.”