The most apparent aspect of Carrie Shobe Kwok’s life may have been the art side of her — since she was killed while painting a public art project in St. Paul’s Lowertown — but the more important part of her life was her Christian faith, her son said Friday.
Kwok, 66, was a mother of a son and a daughter, and grandmother of four.
Bill Kwok, Carrie’s oldest child, said he’s trying to process “how something like this could happen to such a strong God-centered person.”
Police have said Kwok’s killing appeared random. There was no evidence that she and the suspect had a conflict or fight or “a previous association with one another,” which is rare in a homicide, Police Chief Axel Henry said Thursday.
On Thursday morning, St. Paul officers approached the suspect, Seantrell Tyreese Murdock, 29, when he left his Belle Plaine residence. There was a confrontation and two officers fatally shot him, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is investigating that shooting.
Police said Thursday that Murdock was armed with a handgun, and the BCA said Friday they found a handgun in the location where Murdock was shot.
‘One of her dreams’ to live in co-op
Kwok moved into the Lowertown Lofts Artist Cooperative in February. The building’s front door is in an alley behind Kellogg Boulevard between Wacouta and Wall streets.
Formed in 1985 by a group of artists seeking affordable live/work housing, there is space for 29 artists of all varieties and their families.
Kwok worked with vintage clothing, textile art and handmade jewelry, according to co-op president Ben Krywosz. She enjoyed sewing, home design and remodeling, her son added.
“She endeared herself to all of us with her vivacious personality and sparkly demeanor,” Krywosz said Friday. “She combined a relentless optimism with a real-world pragmatism.”
She took part in her first St. Paul Art Crawl in the spring and was planning to take part again at the upcoming Art Crawl scheduled for Oct. 4-6.
Kwok previously lived in St. Paul’s Como Park neighborhood, next door to her son and his family. When she had the chance to move to the artists’ cooperative, which “had been one of her dreams for a long time, she took that opportunity,” according to Bill Kwok.
Tara Tieso, the co-op’s membership committee chairperson, said the mural was set into motion two weeks ago at a board meeting. Tieso’s husband had an idea to “create a beautiful public art space” in the building’s surface parking lot, and they were working to have it ready before Art Crawl. Another community member came up with a pattern, “so that we could all participate together,” Tieso said.
The painting is “about beauty and color and vibrancy and energy in this alley” and is the co-op’s first public art project together, Tieso said.
“Carrie told me, ‘Hey, you know, we can get all the free paint we want from the paint recycling place,” Tieso recounted. “… She said, ‘We could get enough paint to paint 10 houses.’ And so she agreed to go get paint for us. She made about three or four trips over the past week, bringing paint back.”
Several other members of the co-op were in the parking lot, by their vehicles or coming home, and Kwok was painting “when this unimaginable moment occurred,” Tieso said. Kwok was shot in the daylight, shortly before 5:20 p.m. on Wednesday.
Kwok was “surrounded by people that she knew here, her neighbors and other people who cared about her … as she passed,” Tieso said.
Caring, down to earth
Carrie Kwok had a busy life, said her sister, Julie Shobe. She worked part-time at a hotel, waitressing for banquets. She was remodeling a house in Wabasha, Minn., and she was helping Shobe with building a tiny house.
When they were working on the tiny house in the last few weeks, “we talked about how we both needed to listen more to God and get direction more from God about what to be doing with our lives and not wasting it,” Shobe said.
There were women Kwok had been meeting with for the last 35 years for Bible study. “They had a supportive group together,” her son said.
A post on Carrie Kwok’s Facebook page from her family informed her friends Thursday of her death and said: “Please keep her in your prayers while she is transitioning into … the next stage of her eternal life.”
Kwok and her two older sisters grew up in south Minneapolis, and they went to Roosevelt High School.
“She was very caring, down to earth, speaks her mind,” Shobe said. “I loved laughing with her. We laughed a lot.”
Kwok was “always trying to help everybody, her family and friends,” said Bill Kwok. “A lot of her friends are telling me about how she was a really stable part of their lives, and that she was a counselor, in a way, to the people around her.”
Shobe said everyone will miss Kwok and especially her grandchildren “because she was so good with them.”
Officers who shot suspect on standard leave
It’s not known why the suspect, a Belle Plaine resident, was “even in St. Paul in the first place,” Chief Henry said Thursday.
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. Civil commitment for Murdock was stayed for six months, concluding August 2023, on various conditions — including that he take prescribed medication and cooperate with Scott County Adult Mental Health case management.
After Kwok was killed, officers “very, very quickly established evidence and information,” Henry said. They learned of a vehicle that left the crime scene and they obtained a license plate number. They found it registered to a residence in the 100 block of Meridian Street in Belle Plaine.
Police set up a perimeter and “attempted to develop a tactical plan to make contact” with the people in the residence and take Murdock into custody, Henry said. Just after 6:30 a.m. Thursday, Murdock left the residence and officers approached to take him into custody.
St. Paul Officers Aaron Bohlen and Lance Christianson shot Murdock, according to the BCA. The agency said there was a “confrontation” and otherwise didn’t detail on Friday what led officers to shoot. “The BCA investigation is in its very early stages,” according to a statement.
Murdock was airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office.
Body-camera video captured portions of the incident. Bohlen, who’s been in law enforcement for 10 years, and Christianson, who has 20 years of experience, are on administrative leave, which is standard after a shooting by police.
‘Strength in community’
The St. Paul Art Collective said they’ve decided to dedicate the upcoming Art Crawl to Kwok “to celebrating her remarkable spirit and the artistry that she brought into our lives,” said a statement from the collective, which organizes the event. “Her passion for creativity reminds us of the essential role that art plays in our community — it connects us, heals us, and allows us to express our deepest emotions.”
Lost Fox, a coffee shop in Lowertown, is hosting Hug Your Neighbor Day this Sunday, starting at 2 p.m.
“In light of recent events we want to have a dedicated time to share kindness and exchange hugs for those who live in this neighborhood,” the business said in a social media post. “… “We love you all and know there is strength in community.”
