Jul 17, 2010 10:39 pm US/Central
John Lauritsen ST. PAUL (WCCO) ―
Neighbors believe a family disagreement may have led to a shooting that killed three people in St. Paul and hurt another.
Police were called to a home on the 1800 block of Munster Avenue, just after 9:00 Friday night.
When they got there they found two women dead and a man and a woman wounded. The man alter died, but the woman who survived is in stable condition at Regions Hospital Saturday night.
They arrested 55-year-old Pat McHugh after a short police chase that ended just blocks from the home, at the intersection of St. Paul Avenue and Davern Street.
Pat McHugh was taken into custody and Sgt. Pete Crum said he is the only suspect at this time.
Police are saying Pat McHugh is related to each of the victims in this case, either by blood or through marriage.
Neighbors said he may have had a drinking problem, had not worked in years and a dispute over the home he shared with his mother may have led to Friday night's shooting.
"I knew them well and would never expect something like this to happen. [I'm] just totally shocked," said neighbor Susan Miller.
For more than 40 years, Miller has lived next door to Kathleen McHugh and her son, Pat McHugh. As neighbors, she said they mostly kept to themselves, but Pat McHugh could always be counted on when she and her family were in a pinch.
"If we were out of town he would always come and pick up the paper, pick up the mail. Good, dependable person. You could always count on him to watch the house, we would watch theirs. [They were] just good neighbors," said Miller.
But what worries Miller and other neighbors is that Pat McHugh's issues with alcohol may have put him over the edge. She said recently 80-year-old Kathleen McHugh had a stroke, and family members had been at her home Friday night to decide what to do about the home she and Pat McHugh shared. She believes he feared the family was going to sell their home.
"Where is Pat going to live? If mom has to leave and sell the house and I haven't worked in 20 years, where am I going to live? I think that's what the issue was," said Miller.
None of the neighbors WCCO-TV talked with heard gunshots Friday night, but many did watch as police followed Pat McHugh in a van as he tried to leave the home. He was arrested a few blocks away.
"It's just a very, very sad thing to happen. It hits home and brings everybody a little closer to each other," said neighbor Sean Scanlon.
Police did recover a gun at the home. They have released very few details because the investigation is ongoing.
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