A young Minnesota man is lucky to be alive after a bullet came within inches of taking his life. He shared his story exclusively with Liz Collin on her podcast.
Alex Risdall, 22, was dropping off a college friend in the Hamline Midway area of St. Paul in the 1400 block of Blair Avenue at 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 27.
Risdall described what happened next:
“So my friend had just gotten out of the car and he had walked inside his building already … Then, I just hear to the left of me slamming on the side of my door and this guy just trying my door handle and saying, ‘Open up, open up!’ I just see two guys and one of them is pounding on my window. The guy behind him has this really menacing looking gun. He’s just sort of standing there and I look at both of them. So I have two options. I can either get out and take my chances with them, or I can drive away. I picked drive away.
So I look to my right, press drive, and just gun it and I think I accidentally hit the guy with the gun. Then, on my way to the intersection where I was going to turn, I just hear two bullets behind me, or two gunshots behind me. One goes through my back rearview window and to the front, and it’s like two inches from my face right here. The other one just goes into the side of my car. I take a right at the stop sign and I immediately dial 911. It’s like 10 to 15 seconds after I just got shot at and I’m shaking, about to break down, but I’m like, ‘Can I just drive to Midway Target? I just want to be around people’ and they were like, ‘Yeah, we’ll send cops to the location that you were just at.'”
St. Paul police are still looking for the people responsible. Risdall was told the shooter could be charged with attempted murder. Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher posted about the incident on his Live on Patrol Facebook page and asked anyone with information to call the St. Paul Police Department Non-Fatal Shooting Unit.
“It sort of makes you wonder what is actually being done and what is actually being pushed onto these people and what are we signaling to them, I guess. Because I guess I’ve just heard a lot of people just being sort of let go with a slap on the wrist after they do something like this and you’re just like, where do we go from here and how do we actually crack down on this?” Risdall said.
He got the impression this wasn’t their first time doing something like this.
“I don’t think so, just because they seemed pretty coordinated and one of the guys was standing sort of like where I needed to get out. I had to debate whether I hit the guy or if I just stay there and let him do whatever he wants to me,” Risdall said.
Risdall is also a volunteer at Peace House in Minneapolis and has always believed in giving back. He started a GoFundMe to fix his truck and raise money for charities in the process.
His family has a long history in St. Paul, which made the incident even more disheartening.
“How do we fix it and make it better and make it to a place where it can be someone’s backyard again with them feeling safe and heard?” Risdall said.
“It’s been a lot of flashing back to the moments and being like, what could have gone better, what could have gone worse?” he added. “And just a little bit of anger, but mostly just a lot of curiosity on why they did it and a lot of hope for the future and a second chance to be alive.”
Liz Collin
Liz Collin has been a truth-teller for 20 years as a multi-Emmy-Award-winning reporter and anchor. Liz is a Worthington, Minnesota native who lives in the suburbs with her husband, son and loyal lab.
