A large police presence surrounded St. Paul Union Depot overnight as authorities evacuated the historic transit hub, shutting down both eastbound and westbound Green Line station stops until further notice. The reason for the evacuation had not been confirmed as officers worked the scene.
Authorities were evacuating the building as officers gathered around it in force, according to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, which had reporters on the ground investigating what prompted the response. The station reported that some witnesses claimed they heard gunshots inside Union Depot, though police had not confirmed that account. A separate preliminary report described a fight and possible shooting at Union Depot during an event there, but that account had not been independently verified, according to cedarnews.net.
No confirmed information about injuries, arrests, or a motive was available as of early reporting, per cedarnews.net. The scope of the police response and how long the evacuation might last remained unclear in the moments after it began.
Green Line Service Disrupted
Metro Transit reported that the Green Line Union Depot station stops were shut down in both directions until further notice, forcing riders to find alternate routes through downtown St. Paul. The closure mirrors, at least in scale, a prior incident at the same station in which light rail service was halted for roughly an hour, according to the Star Tribune. In that earlier case, Metro Transit police responded to a report of a suspicious bag or package just after 9 p.m., announced the closure around 9:10 p.m., and reopened the station by 10:20 p.m. once the investigation concluded.
It is not established whether the current evacuation is connected in any way to that earlier closure. The two incidents share a location but nothing in the available reporting ties them together.
Recent Violence on the Green Line
The evacuation also comes against the backdrop of a fatal shooting on a Green Line train last month. Minneapolis police said they arrested a 30-year-old suspect in connection with the Oct. 3 shooting, which left a 36-year-old man dead, according to FOX 9. That train had been traveling from the Stadium Village stop outside Huntington Bank Stadium toward the Westgate station in St. Paul when officers found the victim suffering from gunshot wounds at Westgate.
As with the earlier suspicious-package closure, nothing in the available reporting connects that October shooting to the Union Depot evacuation. The two events involve the same transit line but are being treated as separate matters in the information available so far.
No official statement from Saint Paul police or Metro Transit specifically addressing the Union Depot evacuation had been issued at the time of this report. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS said its reporters remained on the ground working to confirm what triggered the police response, and this story will be updated as more details emerge.
