At around 12:45 AM on March 21, 2026, officers went to Regions Hospital on a man who showed up with a gunshot wound to his left armpit area. Officers spoke to AM ([DOB redacted]) who said he had been shot somewhere around the Cherry Pit bar while he was driving his Jeep Cherokee in a nearby alley. AM said on the night of the shooting he was in the alley to meet a friend. AM said the man who shot him was bald and wearing a hoodie. AM had a friend give him a ride to the hospital in a different vehicle.
Officers spoke to CJ who had been in the Cherokee’s passenger seat at the time of the shooting. CJ said she and AM had driven around after they left a bar. They drove slowly down an alley north of Minnehaha Avenue and west of Flandrau Street, St. Paul, Ramsey County when someone approached the driver’s side and shot through the rear window. AM told CJ he had been shot. AM stopped driving, and his friend took them to the hospital. Officers found AM’s Cherokee. The Cherokee’s rear driver’s side window was shattered.
Officers searched the alley where CJ said the shooting occurred. Officers found a spent.40 caliber casing in the alley 20-30 yards to the west of the driveway at [address omitted] East, St. Paul, Ramsey County. The shooting occurred a block east of the Cherry Pit. Several days after the shooting AM contacted police and provided information that CJ’s ex-boyfriend was trying to locate and kill him for some unknown reason. AM said CJ and Garay lived together. AM said CJ’s ex is crazy, and he is still trying to find AM even after the shooting.
At 6:59 AM on March 20, 2026, PAUL DAVID GARAY ([DOB redacted]) sent AM a message: Listen im not going to just go away so either you come see me on your own or im going to continue having as many people as possible keep looking for your whereabouts and dropping in on every spot I find of both of you until I get my issue resolved. Ive already told my closest friends to keep this up evrn after im gone. So come f*** with me because you two are bogus as f*** and probably deserve each other's chesting ass's. But im feeling some type of way over it Garay is bald with a goatee.
Officers reviewed surveillance video from the Cherry Pit from around the time of the shooting. At around 12:08 AM on March 21, 2026, a man with a goatee wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt with stripes down the sleeves walked around with his hands in the front of his sweatshirt pockets. The man looked at cars in the nearby parking lots. Officers reviewed surveillance video from [address omitted] East that covered the alley where AM was shot. AM’s Cherokee slowly went down the alley heading west. Six seconds after the Cherokee left the camera frame, a person wearing a sweatshirt with the hood up entered camera view.
The person ran in the same direction after the Cherokee. Eight seconds after exiting the camera frame, the person ran back in the direction they originally came from. Officers obtained information that Garay was likely driving a black Cadillac DTS bearing Minnesota license plates DNN378. Garay was arrested on April 4, 2026 outside his address. Officers recovered a Samsung phone in Garay’s possession when he was arrested. Officers found the Cadillac DTS parked nearby. Officers executed a search warrant at Garay’s address.
