A St. Paul man was shot and killed Tuesday night in St. Paul's Dayton's Bluff neighborhood, continuing a deadly stretch in the city.

Officers responded to the intersection of N. Mendota Street and E. Fremont Avenue around 7:30 p.m., where they found a man with a gunshot wound to the chest. He died at the scene.

Several 911 callers reported hearing upward of a dozen shots, as a suspect chased the victim on the sidewalk, according to emergency dispatch audio. The gunman then reportedly ran in the opposite direction.

Later, police taped off the corner of a neighborhood convenience store on Mendota Street. The victim's body lay covered on the sidewalk across the street as investigators scouring the area for shell casings with flashlights.

A relative identified the victim as Terry Edwards, who was in his mid-30s.

"He wasn't a bad person; he definitely didn't deserve this," said his sister, Sari Edwards.

Vince Tuss — Star Tribune, Star Tribune
St. Paul officers and investigators responded to the intersection of Mendota Street and Fremont Avenue E. where a man was shot and killed earlier in the evening.

Terry Edwards moved to St. Paul from Chicago roughly 10 years ago, after his grandmother died. He'd been searching for a better life, closer to family, Sari Edwards said.

"He'd have been better off taking his chances in Chicago," she said, tears welling in her eyes.

Edwards had recently begun working odd jobs through a temp agency and loved doting on his nieces, she said.

Friends who gathered behind the police tape late Tuesday night consoling one another say Edwards had gotten out of jail about a month ago and was doing well.

"A petty dispute, that's all this was," said a friend, who declined to be identified.

The shooting marks St. Paul's 21st homicide of the year and the seventh this month. Police say they can't recall such a bloody span, which includes last week's slaying of a man leaving Bible study with his young daughter and a nine-hour stretch earlier this month during which three people were fatally shot.

During a late-night news conference, St. Paul police Sgt. Mike Ernster decried the violence.

Additional resources from Mayor Melvin Carter and Chief Todd Axtell's five-part plan to curb gun violence helped confiscate three firearms from the street on Saturday alone, Ernster said. But "obviously, we've got more work to do."