‘Flash looting’ spreads to St. Paul; squad cars pelted with rocks, bricks

Unrest spilled into St. Paul’s Midway area midday Thursday as looters ambushed stores and pelted police cars with rocks, bricks and liquor bottles, the violent consequence of George Floyd’s death this week in Minneapolis.

Officers first responded to the Target on University Avenue around 11:30 a.m. and found 50 to 60 people grabbing merchandise off the shelves without paying, said police spokesman Steve Linders. Many dropped the goods and ran when authorities arrived.

A fight broke out in the parking lot between a pedestrian and a driver who reportedly tried to run down the person. The motorist missed and hit another vehicle.

“We continue to work to disperse the crowds, protect people and protect property,” read a statement issued late Thursday afternoon by police. “However, our officers continue to be assaulted, and the area is not safe.”

As afternoon turned to evening, further mayhem surfaced on University, where “a large fire” broke out at a Napa Auto Parts Store, a tweet from police reported.

St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell said the scale of looting was unlike anything he’d seen in his 32-year career.

“We are going to hold offenders accountable, whether that’s today or down the road in the future,” Axtell said.

As day turned to evening, reinforcements were on the way, Axtell said, including 75 state troopers and the National Guard. The department was also calling in extra staff and adjusting deployment schedules for the night, he said.

Both Axtell and Mayor Melvin Carter both pleaded for peace while at the same time saying they understood the anger being felt following Floyd’s death.

“For all of us who lament the death of Mr. Floyd, for all of us whose fathers, whose sons, whose nephews, whose selves that could have been, our demand has to be that we take this energy and channel it towards helping prevent something like that from ever happening again,” Carter said.

Looters on Thursday afternoon broke windows, stormed through battered-down doors and snatched clothes, phones, shoes, and other merchandise from shops along University Avenue near the intersection of Pascal Street.

Although officers formed a barricade in front of the Target, there were no officers at a T.J. Maxx a block away. Looters smashed the door down, running out with shoes and heaps of clothing piled on shopping carts.

Watching people run in and out of the T.J. Maxx, Johnnie Capers failed to see the logic in looting local businesses, saying, “I’ll be the first to say that protest without unrest is useless, but … you’ve got to send that unrest to those that’s in power; don’t inflict it on yourself.”

Gunfire rang out on University near Pascal about 1:35 p.m. A man who heard the shots, Deryck Miller, said it happened in front of his friend’s auto body shop, which he was guarding against the looters.

“I saw a gentleman pull out a gun and started shooting in this direction,” he said, pointing to a black sedan that was wedged against a red pickup truck in front of the auto body shop. The driver of the black car was the intended target, but he crashed into the truck, left his car running and fled on food, Miller said.

Looters ran past Miller on Pascal Street as he spoke, carrying boxes of shoes and clothing from Sports Dome, a longtime University Avenue business.

Vandals broke into the Cub Foods and its liquor store at the Sun-Ray Shopping Center. Police shut down the center by about 3:30 p.m., but even as the officers filled the front parking lot, people were driving behind the mall and running into the liquor store and coming away with boxes of booze.

Floyd’s death has made a target of the east metro home of Derek Chauvin, the now-fired police officer who held his knee to Floyd’s neck for several minutes Monday night.

Protesters formed late Wednesday and were ordered by police times late that night to disperse after their gathering was deemed unlawful, officials in Oakdale.

While many did comply, a large crowd defied the orders, prompting police to spray them with a chemical irritant, the statement continued.

Five people were arrested, cited for unlawful assembly and released, while one person was additionally charged with obstructing police and jailed.

A smaller protest continued Thursday with about 20 people waving signs at passing cars as police try to limit traffic in the area to Helmo Avenue and 17th Street to people who need to be there.

A photographer at the house Thursday morning appeared to stage a shot in the officer’s drive by encouraging two people to spray “Kill Pig Cops” on the garage door, according to Jennifer Kennetz of St. Paul. She said the woman claimed to be a magazine photographer and tried to persuade her and others to pose for her near the home.

Kennetz said she later saw the photographer had a young couple spray-paint the garage door while recording with her cellphone. Police soon confiscated the phone, Kennetz said. An Oakdale police spokeswoman confirmed that the incident as under investigation.

Mail carriers were pulled from the routes late in the delivery day Thursday on both sides of the Twin Cities, said U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Nicole Hill, who cited the “abundance of caution” being exercised to keep them safe in or near areas most affected by the street unrest.

“The safety of our employees is our top priority,” said Postmaster Shawneen Beth. “We value our customers and appreciate their support as we make these decisions.”

While the Postal Service expects to resume normal operations Friday, Hill said, the agency’s inspection service “is working diligently” to make a final determination.

Star Tribune staff writers Liz Sawyer, Shannon Prather and Ryan Faircloth contributed to this report.