Rochester Woman Critically Wounded, Man Arrested Following Shooting

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- Rochester Police say a woman was critically wounded and a man is in custody following a shooting that’s believed to have taken place Christmas Eve. 

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Police Captain Casey Moilanen said the father of the 37-year-old victim’s children called police after being unable to get a hold of her when she did not show up for custody exchange Christmas morning. Police also could not reach the woman by phone. 

Officers then responded to the woman’s apartment in the 500 block of 19th St. Northwest around 11:54 a.m. Moilanen said a 5-year-old answered the door and told officers their mother was hurt. A 2-year-old girl was also in the apartment. 

Police entered the apartment and found the woman unconscious in a bedroom with a gunshot wound to her head. The woman was transported to St. Mary’s Hospital and is alive as of Monday morning.

Moilanen said officers learned the woman’s boyfriend, identified as 34-year-old Phillip Turner of Rochester, was at the apartment on Christmas Eve, which led officers to begin surveilling his apartment in the 3300 block of Whalers Ln. in Northwest Rochester. Officers saw a man matching Turner’s description leave the apartment complex on foot and made contact with him.

Police say Turner had a magazine on him with rounds that matched the caliber of the bullet used in the apparent shooting. A K-9 on scene also sniffed out a gun with the same caliber as the bullet in the shooting. 

Turner was then arrested and brought to the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center on suspicion of 2nd-degree attempted murder. Jail records indicate Turner remains in custody as of Monday morning.