By Steve Karnowski
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS 鈥� It started out as a 911 call about a domestic incident. It ended with two police officers, a firefighter and the suspect dead, a third officer wounded, and a mostly affluent suburb of Minneapolis badly shaken and waiting for answers.
[EARLIER: 鈥榃e鈥檙e hurting': Minn. community mourns tragic loss of first responders]
Agents with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension were into Sunday鈥檚 shooting, spokesperson Bonney Bowman said Monday. They planned to share more information once that was complete.
That meant that several key questions remained unanswered. While the BCA Monday evening, it has not said what prompted from a home in a wooded, well-to-do neighborhood of single-family homes on curvy streets in Burnsville, a city of around 64,000 located about 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of downtown Minneapolis.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner鈥檚 Office said Monday afternoon that Officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27, and Adam Finseth, 40, a firefighter and paramedic who was assigned to the city鈥檚 SWAT team, died of gunshot wounds in the emergency room at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis shortly after 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
The BCA said Monday that the man who killed them was Shannon Gooden, 38, of Burnsville. The medical examiner said Tuesday that he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Court records show that Gooden wasn鈥檛 legally allowed to have guns and had been entangled in a yearslong dispute over the custody and financial support of his three oldest children.
A procession of emergency vehicles escorted Finseth鈥檚 body from the medical examiner鈥檚 office in Minnetonka to a funeral home in Jordan on Monday afternoon, passing under several bridges where firefighters stood on their parked engines and flew American flags in tribute.
BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said Sunday that Burnsville police were called to the home around 1:50 a.m. Sunday about a 鈥渄omestic situation where a man was reported to be armed and barricaded with family members in the home.鈥� That included seven children ages 2 to 15 years. Evans declined to say which resident called. Arriving officers 鈥渟pent quite a bit of time鈥� negotiating with Gooden, he said.
At some point 鈥� he declined to specify when 鈥� Gooden opened fire, killing the two officers and the firefighter. Another officer, Sgt. Adam Medlicott, survived with injuries that were not life-threatening. He was released from a hospital and was recovering at home Monday, the city said.
Elmstrand鈥檚 wife, Cindy Elmstrand-Castruita, that her husband 鈥渉ad to do what he thought was right to protect those little lives, even if it meant putting his at risk and it breaks my heart because now he鈥檚 gone. But I know that he thought what he did was right.鈥�
Elmstrand joined the police department in 2017 and was a member of its mobile command staff. Ruge, hired in 2020, was on the department鈥檚 crisis negotiations team and was a physical evidence officer. Finseth, who had been with the fire department since 2019, was shot while aiding the first officer who was injured, Evans said. Medlicott, who joined the police department in 2014, supervises community service officers and is a drug recognition expert.
鈥淪everal officers鈥� returned fire during the exchange, Evans said. Gooden fired from multiple places on both floors of the home. At least one officer was shot inside. An armored SWAT team vehicle sustained bullet damage to its windshield.
Evans said Gooden was armed with 鈥渟everal guns and large amounts of ammunition,鈥� though he declined to provide details.
Neighbors were startled awake by loud pops about an hour before sunrise. Alicia McCullum, who lives two houses down from the source of the commotion, told The Associated Press that she and her family dropped to the floor.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think it was a gunshot at first, but then we opened the windows and we saw police everywhere and police hiding in our neighbors鈥� yards,鈥� McCullum said. 鈥淭hen there were three more gunshots.鈥�
The man was 鈥渞eported to be deceased in the home鈥� around 8 a.m., Evans said, and the children and other family members were later able to escape. McCullum said she saw a woman and a few children escorted out of the home.
The superintendent declined to say how long officers negotiated with Gooden, but the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association said the standoff lasted for four hours before the SWAT team entered the home.
Investigators will review body camera and other videos, conduct interviews and gather all available evidence as they determine what happened, he said.
鈥淚 know everybody wants to know exactly what occurred and really what led up to these really terrible events that occurred today,鈥� Evans told reporters. 鈥淏ut I ask that you have patience as we work though that to piece together everything so that we can to provide the answers in due time.鈥�
Gov. Tim Walz ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at all state-owned buildings. Members of the Minnesota House and Senate stood with bowed heads for moments of silence Monday.
鈥淥ur police officers and medics and fire, they come to work every day,鈥� said Rep. Jeff Witte, of Lakeville, who served in the Burnsville Police Department for 27 years. 鈥淭hey do it willingly to protect and serve our communities, knowing that they may have to give up their life for a partner or the community. And if you鈥檙e not in the profession, you can鈥檛 understand: the goal is to go home to their families.鈥�