St. Paul police continue to solve homicides at a higher-than-average rate: there has been an arrest or resolution in all except three of 2023's homicides.
Homicides in St. Paul in 2023 declined from recent years, but are still higher than five years ago. St. Paul’s homicide rate began increasing in 2019 and peaked in 2022 with 40 homicides. There were 32 homicides this year as of Saturday afternoon. St. Paul averaged 17 homicides a year between 2010 and 2018. “I’ll never be happy until the numbers are zero,” Police Chief Axel Henry said recently. .
Before Debbie Dehoyos spoke in court Thursday, she propped up two framed photos of her 21-year-old daughter, who was a mother of three young children and seven weeks pregnant when she was fatally shot in St. Paul.
The 21-year-old was riding in her boyfriend’s car with her children in the city's Summit-University neighborhood when a single shot fired by Harris struck her in the back of the head.