St. Paul, Minn. -- Six to 10 gunshots were fired at a Ramsey County sheriff's deputy early Friday while he worked off duty at a nightclub.
The deputy wasn't injured in the shooting between 1:30 and 1:45 a.m. near Rice Street and Larpenteur Avenue on the St. Paul-Maplewood border.
Deputy Don Rindal was on the Maplewood side, and the shooter was on the St. Paul side, Ramsey County Undersheriff Nicholas O'Hara said.
Sheriff's deputies were working off duty at Club Cristal, providing security. Several young men had been removed from the club when they became disorderly, O'Hara said.
The men were seen in the parking lot, and Rindal, patrolling the lot, pulled up in an unmarked squad car and activated the emergency lights, O'Hara said. He identified himself as a sheriff's deputy and told the men they needed to leave the property.
Rindal, a sheriff's deputy since 1999, was wearing a ballistics vest with fluorescent green lettering to indicate he worked for the sheriff's office, O'Hara said.
"They knew who he was," O'Hara said.
The men walked across Larpenteur Avenue and south on Camelot Street. Rindal, driving back into the parking lot from Rice Street, saw one of the men raise his right hand and point it in his direction, O'Hara said.
Rindal then saw a muzzle flash and heard six to 10 shots; he could hear rounds hitting a stop sign on Larpenteur Avenue, O'Hara said.
Rindal called for backup, and St. Paul police set up a perimeter in the area, O'Hara said. Five people
were arrested -- four in an apartment on California Avenue and one nearby.
A gun was found abandoned in the area, O'Hara said.
Arrested on suspicion of felony assault were Damario Baymon, 19, of St. Paul; Giorgio Baymon, 20, of St. Paul; Tavreal Halliburton, 19, of North St. Paul; Tyrone Halliburton, 21, of Maplewood; and Robert Kibble, 20, of St. Paul. They have not been charged.
Mara Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262.