A good Samaritan went to help people in a car crash Monday night in St. Paul and lost his life, police said.

Officers detained the 27-year-old St. Paul driver, who police said shot the 31-year-old man in the head.

It was the second of three homicides in an eight-hour span St. Paul on Monday and early Tuesday:

An 18-year-old was fatally shot at 4:30 p.m. Monday in the North End.

The good Samaritan died at 10 p.m. Monday in the Payne-Phalen area.

Early Tuesday, a 27-year-old man was shot at Marion Street and University Avenue and later died at Regions Hospital.

“It has been a tragic week in St. Paul,” Police Chief Todd Axtell said in a Facebook post Tuesday morning. “Last night was one of the most violent nights I have witnessed in my career. Three lives were lost, three families will never be the same and our community is waking to uncertainty and fear.”

Axtell met Tuesday morning with the police department’s top brass “to make sure all of our resources are aligned in an effort to apprehend those responsible and to prevent any further violence.” He and Mayor Melvin Carter announced their plans at a Tuesday afternoon press conference.

Between Labor Day on Sept. 2, and early Tuesday, there were five homicides in St. Paul. At least nine people have been injured in shootings since Aug. 30.

Police are investigating whether any of the incidents are connected.

“It’s certainly possible,” said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman. “It’s rare to see this type of violence in such a short period of time, so it’s possible they’re connected, but until we find the people responsible, we won’t know for sure.”

CRASH, THEN A SHOOTING

After a series of vehicle crashes at Edgerton Street and Case Avenue on Monday night, Javier Sanmiguel Yanez came out of his residence to make sure everyone was OK.

That’s the kind of man he was, Dan Thompson said of his neighbor, who leaves behind a wife and four young children.

“This good Samaritan … came out to help,” said Sgt. Mike Ernster, who is also a St. Paul police spokesman. “Unfortunately, he paid for it with his life, and our heart aches for his family.”

About 10 p.m., officers were responding to a crash involving several vehicles when they heard that gunshots were fired.

Witnesses reported the suspect — identified by police as Lionel Eaton — was driving south on Edgerton when he rear-ended a vehicle in front of him. That vehicle’s female driver also was heading southbound.

The force of the collision caused the woman’s vehicle to cross into the northbound lane and strike a parked vehicle, Ernster said.

Eaton’s vehicle continued south on Edgerton and also struck a parked car on the northwest corner of Edgerton and Case.

Yanez, who lived on the block, came out to try to help the people at the crash scene, Ernster said. Multiple 911 callers reported the driver — still in his vehicle — began shooting and fatally struck the Yanez.

Thompson said he and others ran out of their homes when they heard the first shot. He ran toward Yanez and called out to him, but he could tell he “was gone immediately,” Thompson said.

Yanez’s wife also tried to reach her husband, but Thompson was worried about the driver still being armed in the car.

Thompson held her back behind another vehicle and the driver started shooting again — Thompson said he heard five to six more shots. They ducked and police arrived soon after.

“The world really lost a good man,” said Maya Thompson, Dan’s wife.

“He loved his family more than anything,” Dan Thompson added.

THIRD HOMICIDE OF NIGHT: MAN SHOT IN VEHICLE

On Tuesday at 12:15 a.m., officers responded to Regions Hospital where two men who had been shot arrived in a private vehicle.

The driver was treated for injuries that weren’t life-threatening, but a front-seat passenger was pronounced dead. A back-seat passenger was uninjured.

Nickey Taylor was the man killed, according to his mother, who called her son “Niko.”

Investigators determined the men were in a vehicle at University Avenue and Marion Street when people in another vehicle encountered them and began firing at them, Linders said. Multiple bullets struck the car.

Police said they’re working to determine a motive and identify the suspects.

Taylor, who had a 5-year-old daughter, “was the best father,” said his mother, Milagro Rosario. She said she doesn’t understand why he was killed.

“He wasn’t into street stuff, so it makes it harder to accept this the way it is,” Rosario said.

Taylor’s older brother was the back-seat passenger who wasn’t injured, and their friend was driving. They were coming back from a friend’s surprise birthday party in South Minneapolis, Rosario said.

“People take life for granted,” said Alfredo Rosario, Taylor’s uncle. “It’s so easy to pull the trigger, but the consequences behind it … you leave a family suffering for what?”

Taylor’s homicide was the 19th of the year in St. Paul.

In addition to the three back-to-back homicides, police responded to at least seven confirmed reports of shots fired — with no one injured — in various parts of the city Monday and Tuesday.

One man was wounded by gunfire Tuesday evening in the same block where a shooting took the life of a 22-year-old just four days earlier.