A St. Paul man has been arrested over a Wednesday afternoon shooting that left her girlfriend critically injured and another man dead.
Creshawn Depre Pryor, 22, was arrested at his residence less than a mile away from the apartment where the shooting took place. He was charged with murder and attempted murder on Friday.
On Wednesday, at approximately 1:10 p.m., officers responded to reports of a shooting in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood. The woman who called 911 claimed she had been shot and someone else was dead on Edmund Avenue near Snelling Avenue.
When officers arrived, the 22-year-old woman critically injured. Another man who had been shot in the chest and thigh was also located at the scene. He asked police to give him CPR and told officers it was the woman's boyfriend who shot him. He later died at the hospital. His identity is not yet known.
The woman had been shot three times and was rushed into surgery; she will need additional surgeries to address her injuries, the complaint said. Her 3-year-old daughter was also with her at the time of the shooting but was unharmed in the shooting.
Pryor Had Sent Threatening Text Messages to the Woman, There was a History of Domestic Incidents Between the Couple
During the investigation, officers found text messages between Pryor and the woman, in which he had threatened to break down or shoot through her door, according to the criminal complaint. Police found a record of a "series of domestics" between Pryor and the woman from June 2024 and February, per the complaint.
Pryor told police that he and the woman had been dating on-and-off for three to four years. He said he was sitting in her apartment Wednesday morning "when someone he assumed (she) had relations with knocked on the door," according to the complaint.
Pryor Claimed He Shot the Man in Self-Defense, was Trying to Help the Woman
He said the man entered the apartment carrying a firearm and argued with the woman about getting his belongings. Pryor said he went to the bathroom to get his AR-rifle, and "exited the apartment because two guns together don't mix," the complaint continued. He waited in the hallway for the other man to get his things, but he heard the woman scream, "Stop, stop, stop," followed by thudding noises.
He went back in the apartment and saw the man hit the woman with the gun, and Pryor yelled at the man. The man pointed the gun at Pryor and Pryor said he fired one round. Pryor said he moved to take cover, the man fired five or six rounds at Pryor and the woman screamed for Pryor to help.
Pryor said he fired two or three more shots through the bedroom door and waited for the man to exit, so he could check on the woman. He said he heard a gunshot and the woman stopped screaming, so he thought she may have been shot. He said he panicked and left.
Pryor Texted the Woman a Photo of a Birth Control Package He Saw at Her Home and Accused Her of Having Sexual Relations with Another Man
With a warrant for Pryor's phone, police found a series of text messages from Monday night, that included messages from Pryor telling the woman she made him "see red" and he was going to shoot through her door, according to the complaint.
On Wednesday about 12:40 a.m., Pryor texted the woman a photo of a birth control package and accused her of having sexual relations with someone else. The woman responded the package wasn't open and she got it a while ago from the doctor. When police interviewed Pryor again on Thursday, he said he didn't know who shot the woman and said he'd been trying to angle the shots at the man.
Investigators told Pryor they'd seen his text messages, and he responded that he and the woman "had some ups and downs." When police brought up the threatening messages, Pryor said, "he had made those threats plenty of times before, but he never followed through," the complaint continued.
Police noted that no bullet holes or fragments were found on the walls behind where Pryor said he stood when the other man shot at him. A handgun recovered from the woman's apartment had nine rounds in its 10-round magazine, and didn't appear to have been fired during the incident, the complaint said.
