While so much attention has been focused on Minneapolis, its twin city of St. Paul hasn’t been without its problems. What decent size city has been, all things considered? This is not a great time to be in a larger U.S. city if you can possibly avoid it.

However, St. Paul has managed to escape much of the scrutiny of its sister city. That’s good.

This, however, isn’t.

Multiple shots-fired incidents across St. Paul Wednesday night and early Thursday morning made for a dangerous environment for police and residents.

A man and woman were injured, another ran from police and crashed his car, property was damaged and in one incident 57 shell casings were recovered, according to police. In all, no one was killed.

“We feel like we got lucky last night — it could have been much, much worse,” said St. Paul Police Department spokesman Steve Linders. “Our message to the community is this: We need your help. Call us if you know who is illegally possessing guns in the city. Call us if you know who is illegally carrying guns around the city. Call us if you know who is firing off rounds in our city. It could save a life.”

This was a single night in St. Paul, Minnesota. I can’t help but wonder just what the hell was going on there.

After all, how much of this might have been motivated by hopes that the police might be slow to respond following the George Floyd incident? It’s not out of the realm of possibility that because the two cities are so close geographically and politically, some potential criminals figure the issues there might spill over into their own local police department.

Yet that’s just speculation.

It’s also possible that this is just a really crappy night in a city of over 300,000 people. In fact, that’s probably what it is. Yet I can’t help this nagging feeling that it might be much more. Of course, that could also be the frozen pizza from last night as well.

Only time will tell.

Regardless, if you’re in St. Paul, please be careful if you’re out and about. A night of violence like that can often spill over into the following days or weeks. Carry if you’re able, and if you’re not, look at how you can keep a firearm close at hand. Also, brush up on your state’s use of force laws so you know your duties if faced with deadly force from a criminal.

Then, if faced with a justified instance, pull the trigger without hesitation.

No, I don’t want people to die, but if someone’s going to die, I’d rather it be a criminal scumbag than a law-abiding citizen. I’ll take that trade any day of the week.

Hopefully, this is just a one-off, an aberration that likely wouldn’t have meant anything to me because it wasn’t near a place of major civil unrest and issues with policing. Time will tell, though, so until we know for sure, please be prepared to defend yourself and your family.