Dozens gathered at a cafe in St. Paul’s Lowertown on Sunday to share stories and grieve the loss of a local artist who was killed last week while working on a mural in the neighborhood.

People sat at tables and stood in small groups at The Lost Fox to share stories about Carrie Shobe Kwok and to seek comfort. They said that even though the 66-year-old Kwok had only lived in the Lowertown Lofts Artist Cooperative for eight months, she had quickly become an enthusiastic and integral part of the close-knit community of the 29 artists who live there.

Several people said Kwok brought a contagious enthusiasm to the art community in Lowertown.

She had a “loving energy” and was an “integral part immediately of the pumping of the heart of Lowertown Lofts,” said artist Ta-coumba T. Aiken. He said Kwok had been very enthusiastic about participating in the group mural outside the loft being created for the city’s Art Crawl that begins Friday. “This happening is tragic, but also her spirit will always be there.”

The Lowertown Lofts Artist Cooperative is built around a three-story atrium with all the doors facing out so people get to know each other, many of the artists said.

Most artists would keep their doors closed, but Kwok kept hers wide open as if she were inviting people to stop in and say hello, said Lowertown Lofts artist Tara Tieso, noting that Kwok would often text people and say, “I have strawberries, I have cream cheese, and I can’t eat it all, come over. And she had obviously bought it for us to eat.”

Tieso described Kwok as gregarious and social. For instance, Kwok was responsible for restarting a progressive dinner the artists had done in the past in the building.

“Not like a bubbly person who is so positive they drive you crazy but more like a sparkly person where she just loved everyone,” she said. “I know that not everyone at the co-op necessarily likes me, but I can promise you that everyone loved Carrie. She was so universally loved by everyone.”

Mayor Melvin Carter sat with the artists at The Lost Fox. He said his presence was less about sending a message than just the community members who are hurting, who are grieving, who believe in the neighborhood being together.

He said people came together to process their grief in community rather than in isolation.

“There is a lot of celebrating a life that we lost,” Carter said about the conversations taking place. “There is a good deal of anger and frustration and confusion … but the biggest emotion I can feel in that space is just relief to be together in community.”

The “Hug Your Neighbor Day” event was a way for people to come together and grieve after Wednesday’s daytime shooting death of Kwok. Carter and St. Police Police Chief Axel Henry called the slaying “extremely random” and one of the “most cold-blooded” acts they had seen.

Investigators followed leads that led them to a confrontation with the suspect in Belle Plaine in Scott County on Thursday morning, where Henry said St. Paul officers fatally shot the man.

“I am deeply saddened and disturbed by the tragic loss of life due to gun violence in our Lowertown community yesterday,” Rep. María Isa Pérez-Vega, DFL-St. Paul, who was at the Sunday event, said in a written statement this week. “My heart goes out to the victim’s family and friends during this incredibly difficult time. I was in the neighborhood with other community members and my body froze in shock as we were just about to park and heard gunshots nearby.

“Our community is reeling from this senseless act, and I urge everyone to come together in support and solidarity. As the state representative for this district, I am committed to advocating for stricter gun safety measures and investing in community-based programs that promote violence prevention.”

On Wednesday, officers were called just before 5:20 p.m. to the 200 block of East Kellogg Boulevard about multiple reports of shots fired. In an alley, they found a woman with apparent gunshot injuries, according to police.

Reports of serious crimes are down in Lowertown — there were 166 reports of cases ranging from aggravated assault to robbery to theft and other crimes since the start of the year, compared with 249 during the same period last year and 216 in 2022, according to police department data.

Wednesday’s homicide is not “indicative” of the area, Henry said. “That’s actually, in many ways, what makes it so scary — is that it’s this … random thing that took place here.”

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