The shooting happened at about 8:45 a.m. on the 2300 block of Oakford Street.
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Police said three streets employees were arriving to do some work on the area. One worker left the car to go into a corner store to grab some water and ended up in an altercation with someone inside the store.
That person shot the streets worker and then ran from the store, police said.
Chopper 6 over scene of Water Dept. worker shooting
The worker was taken to Jefferson Hospital in critical condition but died a short time later.
"This just once again goes to speak to the level of violence we see in the city. You'll hear our shooting numbers are down and our homicide numbers are down, and that is true, but still, we are not anywhere close to where we need to be. Things like this should not be happening," said Sgt. Eric Gripp.
While preliminary information suggested there were three juvenile suspects, police now say it appears there was one shooter.
"But when he fled, there were two individuals outside the store that seemed to flee in the same direction," Gripp said.
Police said officers were looking at a home on the 2200 block of Titan Street where at least one of the suspects was said to be inside a home.
The investigation is ongoing.
Officials said the streets employee had only been with the agency for six months.
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Note: A previous version of this story said a Water Dept. worker was shot, but police now say the victim is a Streets Dept. employee.
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