A report of gunfire in a St. Paul, Minn., neighborhood on Friday led to the unexpected recovery of a sculpture of an Olympic gold medalist that was stolen last year, the police said.
The discovery came after the police found spent rifle casings outside a home after 12:30 a.m. and ordered the people inside to leave, the police said in a statement.
No one was hurt. The police said they obtained a search warrant to investigate the premises.
Amid the firearms and ammunition that investigators recovered was a 50-pound bronze bust of Sunisa Lee, a St. Paul native, that had been missing since last year.
Ms. Lee was a member of the all-around gymnastics team that clinched a gold medal in the 2024 Olympics in Paris and was an individual all-around gold medalist in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Ms. Lee, 23, announced in July that she would return to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
“What are the odds?” Seexeng Lee, the artist who crafted the artwork, said in a phone interview. “It could have been halfway across the world. It could have been melted down.”
Ms. Lee is Mr. Lee’s grand niece. A representative for Ms. Lee could not be reached on Friday.
The bust was stolen in July 2025 from the Phalen Regional Park in St. Paul.
Also stolen was a rock inscribed with Ms. Lee’s name and words commemorating her Olympic win in 2020 that was near the sculpture. The rock, which weighed up to 120 pounds, was later found dumped in the park’s lake.
“Disrespectful and shameless thieves decided to desecrate this tribute by stealing the statue from our community,” Police Chief Axel Henry said in a statement.
Da’Shawn T. Caradine, 22, was arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen property, according to the police. A representative for the Police Department declined to disclose a motive for the theft.
Mr. Lee said he was devastated when he heard that the artwork had been uprooted from its marble column.
Ms. Lee comes from a conservative Hmong community in Minnesota. St. Paul has one of the largest Hmong populations in the country.
The artist said he had created the piece to celebrate Hmong women.
“She is so loved by our community,” Mr. Lee said. “Why would someone be so selfish, and take that away from all of us?
Plans are underway to reinstall the statue at Phalen Regional Park, the police said.
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