Two police officers and a firefighter/paramedic have been shot dead and another injured while responding to an emergency call outside Minneapolis.
Police were called to a home in Burnsville, Minnesota, at 1.50am on Sunday where a suspect was barricaded inside with seven young children aged two to 15.
When paramedics arrived at 5am the suspect, identified as Shannon Cortez Gooden, 38, by Alpha News, opened fire, killing three of the first responders and injuring a fourth. Authorities are yet to confirm the gunman’s identity.
Burnsville city officials identified the two officers killed as Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27, the firefighter and paramedic as Adam Finseth, 40, and the wounded officer as Adam Medlicott.
The gunman was also killed, and superintendent Drew Evans with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension confirmed officers returned fire.
“I will note this individual had several guns and large amounts of ammunition,” Mr Evans said.
Court records appear to show that Gooden petitioned to have his gun rights restored in 2020 but was denied due to a 2008 felony conviction.
The gunman’s family members made it out of the home after he was confirmed dead at about 8am, and Mr Evans said the 911 call came from inside the house.
Elmstrand joined the Burnsville Police Department in 2017, while Ruge signed up in 2020. Finseth had worked in Burnside since 2019 as a firefighter and SWAT paramedic.
Minnesota’s Democrat Governor Tim Walz, who supported “defunding the police” during the BLM riots of 2020, said in a statement: “Today, the families of these public servants received the call they knew was possible but hoped would never come.
“My heart is with those grieving families — the State of Minnesota stands ready to support in any way we can. This is a tragic loss for our state.”
He ordered flags to be flown at half-staff from Monday morning.
Walz is so unpopular with police that in April last year the grieving widow of a Pope County Sheriff’s Deputy killed in the line of duty banned him from the funeral because “he does not support law enforcement”.
So far this year 18 US police officers have been killed in the line of duty, six by gunfire, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.
FBI crime statistics show that in 2022 Black or African Americans made up 61% of the known violent crime offenders in Minnesota, despite being just 7% of the population.
