A homicide investigation is underway after a man was shot in St. Paul’s North End Monday night. A driver was taking him to the hospital and got into a crash with another vehicle in downtown St. Paul, police said.

Police were notified about 7:30 p.m., when a man called and reported he was assaulted in his vehicle in the 500 block of Front Avenue. He said he shot at the man assaulting him and may have injured him, according to Sgt. Mike Ernster, a police spokesman. The caller said the man got into a red vehicle, which left the area.

Soon after, there was a crash involving a red vehicle and another vehicle at 12th and Cedar streets. A man with a gunshot injury was inside the vehicle. Good Samaritans on scene assisted officers with first aid while St. Paul Fire Department medics responded, Ernster said. Medics pronounced the man who’d been shot dead at the scene.

The driver of the other vehicle reported minor injuries.

Police are investigating what led to the shooting. “At this point, we’re still trying to determine what the those facts are, but … we believe that they will get to a point where they understand what occurred,” Ernster said early Tuesday morning.

The man who initially called about the assault was speaking with homicide investigators as of Monday night, as was the person driving the red vehicle. Investigators “are talking to anybody they can who has information about this case,” Ernster said.

Police personnel were also looking for and collecting any physical or video evidence. Investigators will present a case to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office for review and charging consideration.

Police said they will release the name of the man who was fatally shot after the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office confirms it.

The homicide was the 27th of the year in St. Paul and came on the heels of a Sunday night homicide. There were 28 homicides in the city at this time last year.

The St. Paul Police Department counts 26 homicides this year because the department’s records are for cases investigated by the city’s police department. Another homicide in St. Paul this year was investigated by Metro Transit Police.

In Sunday’s homicide, prosecutors charged a 64-year-old man Monday with fatally stabbing another resident of his apartment building in the Summit-University area.

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