A man who came to America for a better life for his family was shot on a St. Paul street in what may have been a random act of violence. He died soon after on Monday night.

Htoo Baw, 54, had just returned to his home in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood and was unloading his car when someone approached and shot him, his family said. Baw’s relatives said he had no enemies, so they fear the motive was robbery or attempted robbery.

Police also are investigating a shooting that occurred within 20 minutes and a few blocks away from the killing of Baw on East Orange Avenue near Walsh Street. Police said the other shooting victim, whose injuries were not life-threatening, is Isaac O’Neal Maiden, an alleged gang member acquitted in the August 2013 beating of Ray Widstrand.

One theory police are exploring: whether Maiden’s shooter was looking for a way to flee and tried to carjack Baw, shooting him in the process, according to a law enforcement source.

Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman, did not confirm details of the case Tuesday, saying the entire incident remains under investigation. Police have not announced any arrests.

“We are treating them as two separate incidents but leaving all things on the table and considering all options,” Ernster said.

Baw, married for 24 years, had three daughters and four grandchildren. His family is reeling from the loss of a man who started every morning by cooking for his family and playing with his grandchildren. Baw also enjoyed watching soccer, listening to gospel music and going to church.

Originally from Myanmar, Baw was a member of the Karen ethnic group and had lived in a refugee camp on the Myanmar-Thailand border before coming to the United States in 2008, his family said. He had especially been looking for opportunities for his daughters to get a good education.

“He was kind and funny and a little bit quiet,” said Ehgay Poe, Baw’s 23-year-old daughter.

Baw had previously been a farmer, his family said. In America, with his family settled in St. Paul, Baw went back and forth to Storm Lake, Iowa, because he found a good job at a Tyson Foods meatpacking plant.

Baw was in a car crash in 2010 and had been unable to work since, his family said. Because of the injuries from the accident, he went to the doctor often. He had been to an appointment in Iowa and was returning from that trip Monday night.

Baw stopped home to pick up his 15-year-old daughter, Ehmoo Htoo, so they could drop food off for a friend of his. After they returned home, Baw was unloading his car, while Htoo ran inside to go to the bathroom. Suddenly, she heard one gunshot.

Htoo opened the window and heard her father call for her mother. She ran to call 911, then went outside and saw her father on the ground, a couple of feet from his car.

“I was trying to help him stop the bleeding,” Htoo said tearfully Tuesday. Her father, who had asthma and trouble walking, told her, “Somebody shot me in the leg,” but she said he could not otherwise speak because “he was busy trying to breathe.”

No one in Baw’s family saw the shooter, said his wife, Annita Thaw. They do not know whether anything was taken from him.

A 17-year-old who lives nearby, and who also called 911, said she heard a gunshot and looked out the window. She saw a man “speed walking” away, but did not get a good look at him. The teen said she heard groaning, as though someone was in pain, and shouted out the window: “Are you hurt? Are you there?” but didn’t get a response.

Crime-scene tape remained on the street Tuesday morning, and bloodstains were visible on the curb and grass in front of Baw’s home.

Police had been called to the first shooting in the area at 9:20 p.m. Monday. They responded to the CVS on Maryland Avenue at Arcade Street. Maiden, 21, of St. Paul was standing outside the store with a gunshot wound to his upper arm, and paramedics took him to Regions Hospital, said Steve Linders, a police spokesman.

Police found shell casings in the 700 block of Rose Avenue, near the CVS, Linders said. Maiden “was very uncooperative with officers,” according to a police report, and Linders said Maiden told police he didn’t know who shot him or why.

Officers were out with dogs, searching for Maiden’s shooter, when police were called at 9:38 p.m. about Baw being shot about four blocks from where Maiden had been shot.

An officer who responded told a dispatcher it appeared Baw had been shot in the upper thigh, and the officer was trying to put a tourniquet on him. An officer soon reported that Baw had stopped breathing and he was administering CPR, according to emergency radio traffic posted by MN Police Clips.

Paramedics took Baw to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead before 11 p.m.

“It’s a big loss for us,” said Hai Mwee, Baw’s 29-year-old daughter. “We never will see him again.”

Police said Tuesday they had been canvassing the neighborhood for the suspect in the homicide and for witnesses. In the two shootings Monday night, there were similarities in the suspects’ descriptions, police initially said, but they have not released the descriptions.

The Pioneer Press could not reach Maiden for comment Tuesday. His attorney, Michael C. Davis, said he “is doing fine.”

“My understanding is he was treated and released,” said Davis, who had not talked with Maiden.

Maiden was acquitted in 2013 in the beating of Widstrand, who was left in a coma after a group attacked him when he tried to help a girl who had fallen to the ground in a fight. The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Maiden this summer in a July nonfatal drive-by shooting on Rice Street and University Avenue, with prosecutors saying that it was gang-related and that Maiden is a member of the HAM Crazy gang.

Maiden, listed in some court records as Issac Maiden, has “denied responsibility” in the shooting and is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 26, Davis said.

Elizabeth Mohr, Katie Kather and Jaime DeLage contributed to this report. Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262.

HOW TO HELP

Police are asking anyone with information to call the homicide unit at 651-266-5650.