A man who was reported missing from his pizza delivery job in Apple Valley last week died by suicide on Tuesday in St. Paul, police said.
St. Paul officers responded to the 1100 block of Rice Street after a relative of Shuefuab “Shue” Xiong, 42, called 911 about 12:10 p.m. and asked for help with a person having a mental health crisis, police said in a statement.
Xiong was reported missing to Apple Valley police after he left the Domino’s where he worked and didn’t make four scheduled deliveries last Tuesday. In an update Monday, Apple Valley police said a witness reported seeing Xiong sitting in his red Toyota Camry in Superior, Wis., on Saturday; police found the car unoccupied.
The relative who called 911 Tuesday reported “Xiong was threatening to take his own life and had access to firearms being kept inside the residence,” St. Paul police said in Tuesday’s statement.
Police instructed family members to exit the building for their safety. Xiong’s family tried multiple times to contact him and ask him to leave the building to get help.
“As efforts to make contact continued, Xiong ran out of the building and around the corner onto Geranium Avenue West, where he shot himself,” the statement said. He died at the scene.
Xiong’s family said in a Monday statement that they were “deeply concerned for Shue’s safety and well-being” and wanted to find him and get him care due to “the cold temperatures and his uncharacteristic behavior.”
A search party group for Xiong on Facebook had grown to 1,700 members since Apple Valley police asked for the public’s help on Thursday to find him. Relatives and friends, along with people who didn’t know Xiong, posted about where they’d searched for him.
The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline can be reached by calling 988. Or people can text “Home” to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line.
