BURNSVILLE, Minnesota – Tragedy struck the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville early Sunday morning when two police officers and a paramedic were fatally shot while responding to a domestic abuse call. The shooter also died, according to authorities.
Reports indicated that the victims were responding to a call about a “family in danger”, which led to police being called to a residence around 1:50 a.m. upon receiving a report of a domestic situation where a man was armed and barricaded with family members.
During a news conference, it was revealed that seven children, ranging in age from 2 to 15, were present in the home at the time of the incident. Negotiations with the suspect reportedly took a considerable amount of time before the suspect opened fire on the responding officers.
The tragic incident resulted in the deaths of Officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, as well as firefighter-paramedic Adam Finseth, with another officer, Sgt. Adam Medlicott, sustaining injuries that are believed to be non-life-threatening.
The situation escalated as Finseth, who was part of the SWAT team called to the scene, was providing aid to an injured officer when he was also shot by the suspect.
Authorities later reported that the suspect was found dead at approximately 8 a.m., but no information was immediately released about the possible motive or cause of death.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was set to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident and provide additional details upon completion of the preliminary investigation.