Minnesota
Ramsey County attorney seeks state funds to solve non-fatal shootings
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- Minnesota lawmakers are considering a bill to fund a program aimed at reducing non-fatal shootings.
- The program is modeled after a successful Ramsey County unit that increased arrests and prosecutions for these crimes.
- Since the unit’s creation, the solve rate for non-fatal shootings in St. Paul rose from 37% to 71%.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, who helped devise a program to sharply increase arrests and prosecutions of non-fatal shootings, pressed state lawmakers Thursday to pass a bill for $1 million in grants to help other jurisdictions continue the successful experiment.
The bipartisan bill (HF1082), authored by House public safety co-chairs Reps. Kelly Moller and Paul Novotny, is modeled on Ramsey County’s non-fatal shooting unit, which has succesfully reduced gun crime in Ramsey County, and especially St. Paul.
Previously, police and prosecutors spent few resources investigating non-fatal shootings, which were viewed as less important than homicides and often involved engaging with difficult witnesses.
The logic of the program is straightforward: Non-fatal shootings are essentially failed homicides, and they often spur a cycle of retributive violence. By solving and prosecuting so few of them, authorities lost any chance at deterrance. The non-fatal shootings often escalated to killings.
“Safer communities start with solving crimes, and solving non-fatal shootings will help remove illegal guns and dangerous individuals off our streets,” Choi said in a press release following a Thursay event at the State Capitol.
Since the creation of the new unit, the solve rate for non-fatal shootings in St. Paul rose to 71% in 2025, up from 37% in 2024.
Non-fatal shootings also dropped by 62%, from 183 to 73 from 2024 to 2025. “Shots fired” reports decreased by 55% in 2025.
Investigating nonfatal shootings has also helped the homicide unit, which won a 100% solve rate on 15 St. Paul homicides in 2025, which was half the number of homicides as 2024.
Nationally, the homicide clearance rate hovers around 50%.
J. Patrick Coolican is Editor-in-Chief of Minnesota Reformer.
Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.