Carrie Kwok, artist killed painting mural in St. Paul, remembered by friends

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Friends and neighbors gathered on Sunday to remember the Lowertown artist killed in what police said was a random shooting.

Several dozen people turned out for the get-together at Lost Fox, a café near where the shooting happened, to share memories of Carrie Kwok, 66.

Kwok was painting a mural outside her home at the Lowertown Lofts Artist Cooperative Wednesday when a man walked up and shot her, police said. They tracked down the suspect Thursday in Belle Plaine, where they shot and killed him after he walked outside with a gun.

"She would text people at 8:30 at night like, ‘I have apple crisp and I can’t eat it all, so come over,’" remembered neighbor Tara Tieso.

Mayor Melvin Carter also stopped by to offer his condolences.

"There’s a lot of celebrating the life of the neighbor who we lost," he said. "There’s [also] a good amount of anger."

Ta-coumba Aiken, who lives in the same building where Kwok lived, heard the gunshots. He said more needs to be done to address gun violence.

"There are so many senseless things that are being done with guns," he said. "When are we going to get a consciousness and say, ‘There’s freedom and rights and all that, but the responsibility of who’s having these guns and holding these guns is a whole other thing.’"

Friends said Kwok leaves behind two adult children and four grandchildren.