After St. Paul police officers shot a man suspected in a Lowertown homicide, the man asked, “Why did you just shoot me?”

An officer responded, “You had a gun in your hand, dude.”

The conversation could be heard in body camera footage released Tuesday by the St. Paul Police Department. Police said the man, identified as Seantrell Tyreese Murdock, was armed with a handgun when officers confronted him.

The 29-year-old was airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, where he died of multiple gunshot wounds Thursday morning, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Police tracked Murdock to his Scott County residence after Carrie Shobe Kwok, 66, was fatally shot near her Lowertown loft on Wednesday.

There is no evidence that Kwok and Murdock knew each other or had a conflict or fight, which is rare in a homicide, Police Chief Axel Henry said last week.

The police department posted the body camera footage, which contains excerpts from three officers’ videos, on its YouTube page. The confrontation between Murdock and officers is not visible.

In the videos from Thursday, which begin with a timestamp of 6:42 a.m., an officer can be heard shouting, “Let me see your hands! Get on the ground!”

An officer yelled “Gun!” several times before shots rang out. A man could then be seen on the ground and officers said, “Don’t move,” as they approached with their guns pointed at him.

It appeared that Murdock then said: “Go ahead. Kill me then.” A handgun was visible on the ground next to him.

“No one wants to hurt you. You’re fine,” an officer said.

As officers handcuffed Murdock, they tried to determine where he was shot. “Where are you hit, buddy?” an officer asked.

Officers yelled for medics and an officer retrieved a medical bag, the video showed.

‘Kind of still reeling’

“This has been a very sad time for our city and the families of those impacted by the loss of a loved one,” Henry said in a Tuesday statement. “We stand committed to being transparent and accountable for our actions and we hope the release of these videos will help answer some of the questions people have. The families, our community, and our officers will continue to be our priority as this independent investigation moves forward.”

Murdock’s family viewed the body camera footage Tuesday before it was publicly released. “It’s chaotic, brief and … there’s a lot of stuff that’s missing,” said Richard Mims-Angel, Murdock’s father.

“We’re just kind of still reeling with what we did see and we’re not happy with what we saw,” he said.

Mims-Angel said he wants to see the full videos. They will be released after the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigation is completed, the Scott County Attorney’s Office reviews the case to determine whether the officers’ actions were justified under state law and the case is closed.

In recent years, Henry, former Police Chief Todd Axtell and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter have moved quickly to publicly release body camera footage of shootings by officers, after family of the person shot has an opportunity to review it.

BCA investigating

Kwok was a mother of two and a grandmother of four. Her Christian faith was an important part of her life, her son has said.

She moved into the Lowertown Lofts Artist Cooperative in February. She worked with vintage clothing, textile art and handmade jewelry and enjoyed sewing, home design and remodeling.

Last Wednesday, when it was still daylight, Kwok was painting a public art project in her building’s parking lot. Her co-op was readying the project for the upcoming St. Paul Art Crawl.

Surveillance video showed the suspect walked past at 5:15 p.m., according to a search warrant affidavit. He briefly paused near a vehicle parked in the lot. He then turned and walked back in the direction of Kwok. At 5:16 p.m., he shot Kwok. Four shots were heard on video.

With information from witnesses and surveillance cameras, police identified the suspect vehicle and found it registered to Murdock in Belle Plaine, the affidavit showed.

Asked about the St. Paul homicide, Mims-Angel said the videos they viewed Tuesday “had nothing to do with that. There’s two different things that are horribly intertwined together.” He didn’t answer further questions from a Pioneer Press reporter about the topic.

After Kwok was killed, officers went to the area where Murdock lived with his family and “attempted to develop a tactical plan to make contact” with the people in the residence and take Murdock into custody, Henry said last week.

Before that happened, Murdock left the residence Thursday morning. Officers approached to take him into custody.

The BCA identified the officers who fired their guns as Aaron Bohlen and Lance Christianson. Bohlen has 10 years of law enforcement experience and Christianson has 20 years.

The BCA said their personnel found a handgun at the location of the shooting.

St. Paul police carried out a search warrant at Murdock’s residence Thursday morning, after officers shot Murdock. They found a gun in a purse in a bedroom closet, an empty box for a different type of gun, two BB guns and ammunition in various places, according to an inventory receipt.

Murdock was charged in 2016 with possession of a firearm by a person ineligible due to a conviction of a crime of violence; he couldn’t have a gun because of a 2013 felony burglary conviction, the criminal complaint said.

Court filings show that Murdock was admitted to a hospital in January 2023 and, at the time, he was alleged to pose a risk of harm due to his mental illness and chemical dependency, a judge wrote.

At the time, his mother told hospital staff he “had access to a firearm and she was fearful for her son’s safety,” according to a court filing.