Man fatally shot by St. Paul police after call about a suicidal male

St. Paul police shot and killed a man Thursday after being called to respond to a report of a suicidal male.

Police offered few details late Thursday, saying investigators are trying to determine what happened immediately before, during and after the shooting. It was St. Paul's third officer-involved shooting this year.

Police said they were called about 6 p.m. to a home in the 600 block of Canton Street. In a news conference Thursday night, police spokesman Steve Linders said officers found the man when they arrived on the scene.

According to audio of the call posted on PoliceClips: Police were informed by family that the man suffered from mental health issues. An officer spotted the man in the doorway of a garage and then saw him go back inside momentarily before coming out again. Soon after that, a voice can be heard: "Shots fired. Shots fired."

The man was taken to Regions Hospital, where he died, Linders said. The Ramsey County medical examiner's office will release his identity.

No officers were injured.

Linders confirmed that officers had been called to the home earlier in the day. They declined to say whether he had a weapon at the time of the shooting because the incident is still under investigation.

In a Star Tribune story in March, statistics showed that since 2009, St. Paul police have shot and killed 12 men, more than any other law enforcement agency in the state. Police Chief Tom Smith had attributed the spike to several factors, including more interactions with people who are mentally ill.

Last summer, police shot and killed a man during a confrontation after they were called by neighbors who said he was damaging vehicles with a pipe. Family members said Guillermo Canas had told them he kept "seeing people" who would hit him. They said police should have used other options to calm Canas.

But a Ramsey County grand jury determined an officer's use of deadly force was appropriate under state law.