Man Charged in Double-Shooting at Girlfriend's Saint Paul Apartment
Officers investigate the double-shooting Wednesday afternoon. via Saint Paul Police Department
BY MN CRIME STAFF
A 22-year-old suspect allegedly fatally shot a man and critically wounded his girlfriend inside a Saint Paul apartment while her 3-year-old daughter was nearby, prosecutors say.
Creshawn Depre Pryor, of Saint Paul, faces charges of second-degree intentional murder, attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault causing great bodily harm. The complaint was filed Friday in Ramsey County District Court.
Saint Paul police responded around 1:10 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18, to an apartment on the 1500 block of Edmund Avenue after a woman called 911 and said she'd been shot and someone else was dead. When dispatch asked who did it, the caller said, "Creshawn Pryor. Creshawn Pryor. Come on!" court documents say.
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Officers found a 22-year-old woman inside the building and crawling toward the stairs. She couldn't move, her pants were soaked in blood and she had several gunshot wounds to her body. When asked who did this to her, she replied, "Creshawn," the complaint states. Dispatch told officers Pryor was the reported suspect in a previous domestic at the same address.
A man upstairs screamed for officers to come help. They went up and found a man with gunshot wounds lying in a pool of blood on the living room floor. Officers applied a tourniquet to the man's left leg. He had shallow breathing and asked officers to perform CPR. When asked who shot him, the man said it was the woman's boyfriend, who was wearing pajamas, according to court records.
Officers found five spent rifle casings on the living room floor and a black CZ 9mm handgun on a white cabinet next to an identification card for Pryor. A bullet had struck the side of the refrigerator. Two bullet holes were in a bedroom door and two more in the opposite bedroom wall. Live handgun rounds, six spent 9mm casings and blood were on the bedroom floor, the complaint states.
Medics transported both victims to the hospital. The man was pronounced dead. The woman was rushed into surgery in critical condition with three gunshot wounds that injured her uterus, lower intestine, kidney and liver. She needed additional surgeries, court records show. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office determined the man died from gunshot wounds to his chest and left thigh and ruled his death a homicide. Authorities have not yet identified the male victim.
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Officers learned the woman's 3-year-old daughter was in the apartment during the shooting. A neighbor found the girl inside the apartment while checking on the commotion. The child had blood on her clothes but wasn't injured, the complaint states.
Police received a welfare check call about a barefoot man in a green robe walking in a nearby alley. A man then approached officers outside the apartment building and said Pryor told him another man had entered the apartment with a gun, assaulted Pryor's girlfriend and that shots were exchanged. Officers went to an address on Thomas Avenue where Pryor was and took him into custody, according to court records. Video showed Pryor arriving at the Thomas Avenue address wearing a green robe at 1:27 p.m.
A woman at the Thomas Avenue home later told investigators Pryor communicated with her through an Alexa device and was "freaking out" when he arrived wearing only a robe. He told her the other man had used a key to enter the apartment, walked past Pryor into the bedroom, pistol-whipped his girlfriend and demanded his belongings. Pryor said the man then turned and fired at him. Pryor told her he returned fire and ran, heard his girlfriend screaming, then heard another gunshot and she stopped screaming, the complaint states. He put his gun in the garage. She told Pryor to "be a man, get dressed, and turn himself in."
Officers executed a search warrant at the Thomas Avenue address and recovered a green bathrobe from an upstairs bedroom closet and a black Tactical Alpha Maxx AR-platform rifle from the floor of the detached garage.
Pryor waived his rights and spoke to investigators on March 18. He said he and the woman had been dating on and off for three to four years and he'd been staying at her apartment since March 15 or 16. He said he was sitting in the apartment wearing only a bathrobe when a man entered carrying a firearm with an extended magazine. The man walked past Pryor into the bedroom and argued with the woman about getting his belongings, the complaint says.
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Pryor told investigators he went to the bathroom to get his AR-rifle, then left the apartment because "two guns together don't mix." He waited in the hallway and heard the woman scream, "Stop, stop, stop," followed by thudding noises. He re-entered the apartment and saw the man hitting the woman with the gun through a partially open bedroom door. Pryor yelled at the man, the man opened the door and pointed the gun at him, and Pryor fired one round, according to court records. The man fired five or six rounds back at Pryor, and Pryor fired two or three more shots through the bedroom door. He then went into the hallway, heard the woman screaming for help, then heard a gunshot — and she stopped screaming. Pryor said he panicked and left.
But investigators found no bullet holes or fragments on the walls behind where Pryor stood when he claimed the other man fired at him. The handgun recovered from the apartment had nine rounds in its 10-round magazine and does not appear to have been fired during the incident, the complaint states.
Investigators also executed a warrant on Pryor's phone and found threatening text messages to the woman from two days before the shooting. At 10:09 p.m. on March 16, Pryor texted, "imma kil u Omh I am." One minute later, he wrote, "Finna blow all threw yk door... better cover yo lil one," according to court records.
Investigators interviewed Pryor again on March 19 and told him the woman was in the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. Pryor said he didn't know who shot her. When confronted about the threatening texts, Pryor said he'd made those threats "plenty of times before" but never followed through. He then asked for a lawyer and the interview ended, the complaint states.
Officers noted a series of domestic incidents between Pryor and the woman dating from June 2024 to February 2026.
The shooting marked Saint Paul's third homicide of 2026.
Pryor is in custody on $2.5 million bail. Second-degree intentional murder carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. Attempted second-degree murder carries up to 20 years. First-degree assault carries up to 20 years and a $30,000 fine. A booking photo for Pryor was not immediately available.
Creshawn Depre Pryor, 22, of Saint Paul, faces charges of second-degree intentional murder, attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault causing great bodily harm.