MINNEAPOLIS– Federal authorities say a woman has been charged with illegally purchasing weapons used in the killings of three Minnesota first responders during a standoff at a home in the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville where seven children were inside.
Officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27, and firefighter-paramedic Adam Finseth, 40, were killed during the standoff. Their memorial service two weeks ago drew thousands of law enforcement officers, firefighters and paramedics.
Investigators say 38-year-old Shannon Gooden opened fire without warning after lengthy negotiations and later committed suicide.
Sergeant Adam Medlicott, 38, survived the bullet while treating the wounded.
Court records show Gooden was legally barred from owning guns because of his criminal record and was embroiled in a yearslong dispute over his three eldest children. The children in the house were between 2 and 15 years old.
Police were called to the home around 1:50 a.m., according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Gooden refused to leave, but said he was unarmed and there were children inside him. Officers entered and negotiated with him for about 3 1/2 hours in an attempt to get him to surrender. But just before 5:30 a.m., the agency said, Gooden opened fire on officers inside without warning.
Elmstrand, Ruge and Medlicott are believed to have been shot first inside the home, the agency said. Medlicott and another officer, who was not injured, returned fire from inside the house, wounding Gooden in the leg.
Ruge and Medlicott were shot a second time as officers headed toward an armored vehicle in the driveway, according to the agency. Finseth, who was assigned to the SWAT team, was shot when he tried to help officers, the report said. Elmstrand, Ruge and Finseth were pronounced dead at a hospital.
Gooden had “several firearms” and fired more than 100 rounds before killing himself, the agency said. A court document filed by an agency officer said the initial 911 call was about an “allegation of sexual assault,” but gave no details.
John McConkey, a gun shop owner in Burnsville, told reporters late last month that some of the firearms found at the scene were traced to his store and had been purchased by a buyer who passed a background check and put it on took possession on January 5. He said authorities told him that the person who picked it up was under investigation for committing a crime in purchasing straw, and that Gooden was not there at the time.
Gooden’s ex-girlfriend, Noemi Torres, announced this week that she had testified before a federal grand jury investigating the case. She told the Associated Press on Wednesday that she was asked about her relationship with Gooden and whether he could have forced her to buy him a gun. She said she told the grand jury she would not have done so because “I was afraid for my life” because of their history of domestic violence.