St. Paul police say a unit focused on non-fatal shootings is helping solve more cases and may be reducing gun violence across the city.
The St. Paul Police Department started the Non-Fatal Shooting Unit at the beginning of 2024, assigning eight investigators to focus only on non-fatal shooting cases. Police said it is the only unit of its kind in Minnesota cities right now.
Commander Nikki Peterson has led the unit, modeled after one in Denver, CO, since it started. She said homicide investigators used to handle all shootings, but they were overburdened with cases, and victims often did not cooperate, so non-fatal shooting cases fell through the cracks.
“This was kind of just the next step in reducing gun violence,” Commander Peterson said.
“Even if you have a victim that doesn’t cooperate, the community is impacted. The community doesn’t feel safe if there’s gun violence going on all around it… And we believe that focusing on these crimes will stop retaliation. It’ll save lives, it’ll bring down our homicide numbers as well.”
Before the unit in 2023, there were 122 non-fatal shooting victims, and 39% of cases ended in arrests, according to St. Paul Police data.
In 2024, with the new unit, St. Paul police reported 107 victims, with officers solving 71% of cases.
In 2025, there were 73 victims of non-fatal shootings, and again, 71% of cases were solved, police said.
So far this year, the department reports there have been 15 victims, and 60% of cases have been solved, with investigations ongoing.
“They’re investigating that case as if it’s a homicide,” Peterson said. “They’re just digging and digging and digging until they can solve it.”
Ramsey County Undersheriff Mike Martin said the Sheriff’s Office works closely with St. Paul police on non-fatal shooting cases and provides victim and witness support. He said that support has increased cooperation in several cases.
“I can give you an example of a young man that was involved in gang activity. He had just become involved. His house got shot up a couple of times within a week, his mom was terrified,” Undersheriff Martin said.
He said they helped the family relocate and get services, and helped to solve the case.
“Once the mom saw that, you know, we were going to be there to support them, we weren’t just going to hold the kids accountable, and once the kids saw that we were helping their mom and the other younger siblings, they cooperated. So it’s a tremendous asset,” Martin said.
“The more we can support the victims and the witnesses and show them that, ‘Hey, we’re here for you,’ the better off we all are.”
The number of homicides in St. Paul has also been dropping over the last few years, with 100% of cases solved since the start of 2025, according to St. Paul police. Peterson said the national average clearance rate for homicides is 51%, adding that it’s more like 20-30% for non-fatal shootings.
She acknowledged that crime has been dropping overall in recent years. Even so, Peterson said she believes the Non-Fatal Shooting Unit has further deterred crime.
“It’s sending a message that there’s certain crimes that just aren’t tolerated in the city,” Peterson said.
This year, state lawmakers are considering a bill to create a grant program to help more agencies increase solve rates on non-fatal shootings. The amount of money that would be appropriated had not been determined as of this report.
