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A police officer handles yellow crime scene tape.
A police officer removes tape near the scene where two police officers and a first responder were shot and killed, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024, in Burnsville. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
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UPDATED:

Update: Girlfriend of Burnsville man who fatally shot 3 first responders indicted for straw purchasing firearms

Two Burnsville police officers and a city fire department paramedic were fatally shot during a Sunday morning domestic incident involving a heavily armed man who barricaded himself in a home full of children. Another officer was injured. The assailant also died.

The Burnsville shooting, the deadliest episode of violence against Minnesota law enforcement in a generation, plunged the suburban Dakota County community of 64,000 into grief and mourning.

After police arrived at the house in the 12600 block of 33rd Avenue South shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, “the situation escalated” into a gunfight, according to a preliminary news release from the city. The shooting was in a residential area of tree-lined streets and two-story homes just west of the Interstate 35E and Cedar Avenue junction.

The city’s news release identified those killed as police officers Paul Elmstrand, 27, and Matthew Ruge, also 27, and firefighter/paramedic, Adam Finseth, 40.

Paul Elmstrand, Matthew Ruge and Adam Finseth official portraits.
From left, Burnsville police officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge and firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth. (Courtesy of the city of Burnsville)

All three were serving on a city SWAT team that had responded to the scene, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is overseeing the investigation of the incident.

Burnsville police were dispatched to the home at about 1:50 a.m. after someone inside the residence called 911, BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said during a Sunday afternoon news conference at Burnsville City Hall.

When officers arrived, the armed suspect was barricaded inside the home with family members, including seven children between the ages of 2 and 15, Evans said.

After talking with police negotiators for “quite a bit of time,” the suspect opened fire on officers who were inside the home, and multiple officers returned fire, according to Evans. During the shootout, the gunman fired from several locations inside the house, striking Elmstrand, Ruge, Finseth and police Sgt. Adam Medlicott, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries. It was unclear where all the fatally injured victims were when they were shot, but Evans said at least one of them was shot while inside the house.

“Officers took fire inside the home and once they were outside of the home,” Evans said, noting that the gunman fired at law enforcement from both the upper level and main level of the house.

Finseth was shot while providing aid to an injured officer, Evans said.

He said the suspect, who won’t be publicly named until the medical examiner’s official identification, “had several guns and large amounts of ammunition” in the home.

UPDATE: Man who shot Burnsville officers and firefighter tried to have gun rights restored after assault conviction

Police received a report about 8 a.m. that the suspect was dead inside the house. A person with knowledge of the matter said the gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Later, the family members who were inside with the suspect were able to leave the residence, Evans said.

“At this particular residence, with this individual, there had not been many calls for service at all,” Evans said.

Evans said the BCA was working to develop a detailed chronology of the shooting and how it played out.

But the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association said negotiations with the suspect went on for four hours before the SWAT team entered the home.

An officer watches as a tow truck moves an armored police vehicle.
A police vehicle with what appears to be bullet pockmarks is towed near the scene where two police officers and a first responder were shot and killed Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024, in Burnsville. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

An armored SWAT vehicle had multiple bullet holes visible in its windshield, and Evans confirmed that it was struck during the shootout.

Elmstrand began working with the police department as a community service officer in August 2017 and was promoted to officer in 2019. He was part of the department’s mobile command staff, peer team, honor guard and field training unit.

Ruge joined the police department in April 2020. He was part of the department’s crisis negotiations team and was a physical evidence officer.

Finseth had been a Burnsville firefighter and paramedic since February 2019. He was on the city’s SWAT team and had previously worked in Savage and Hastings.

Community in shock

A massive law enforcement presence was at the scene, including personnel from the Dakota and Hennepin county sheriff’s offices along with the Apple Valley, Eagan, Lakeville, Rosemount, Bloomington and Savage police departments.

Law enforcement and first responders from multiple jurisdictions later gathered outside Hennepin County Medical Center in downtown Minneapolis, where the victims were initially taken. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was also on hand as the bodies were taken from the hospital via motorcade to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office in Minnetonka. Hospital staff wearing surgical scrubs looked on.

The early afternoon freeway procession included three motorcoaches and was accompanied by police and fire vehicles. Other police and fire vehicles gathered on overpasses along the route to show their respect. Other motorists on Interstate 35W sounded their horns in support.

Five people in uniform stand on a firetruck.
A Minneapolis police officer and four firefighters wait on the 42nd Street overpass over Interstate 35W for a procession from Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis for two Burnsville officers and a fire medic killed in the line of duty on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. (Nick Ferraro / Pioneer Press)

The incident appears to be the first time a Burnsville police officer has been killed in the line of duty and the deadliest public safety incident in Minnesota since 1994, when two St. Paul police officers and a police dog were fatally shot by a drifter, who was later arrested and sentenced to life in prison.

The Burnsville violence follows what has been a deadly year for law enforcement officers in the region. Three western Wisconsin officers were gunned down in two separate incidents in April and May; a Pope County, Minn., sheriff’s deputy was shot in April; and a Fargo, N.D., police officer was ambushed in July.

On Sunday morning, officers massed near 33rd Avenue and East Burnsville Parkway at about 5:30 a.m., a witness told KSTP-TV. The witness heard shots fired and said a shelter-in-place order was then transmitted to mobile devices.

A family member of one of the police officers was near Kelleny Road and East Burnsville Parkway, weeping as he waited for a police escort. Markus, who works as a pilot for Delta Air Lines but declined to provide his full name, rushed to the scene as soon as his mother told him that his older brother had been killed while on duty. He said he always worried about his brother being a police officer.

Neighbors were startled awake by loud pops about an hour before sunrise.

Alicia McCullum said she and her family dropped to the floor, uncertain whether the noise was gunshots. She and her husband peered out of their sunroom and saw squad cars and a phalanx of police officers.

“I didn’t think it was a gunshot at first, but then we opened the windows and we saw police everywhere and police hiding in our neighbors’ yards,” said McCullum, who lives two houses down from the source of the commotion.

“Then there were three more gunshots,” she said. “It was like a bunch of fireworks.” That’s when she and her husband and two children sought safety in a bathroom and dropped to the floor. They prayed.

McCullum said she was relieved to see a woman and children escorted out of their home. “We’re so thankful for those police officers that risked their lives to save those kids,” McCullum said. “And my heart goes out to that mother.”

Pat Knaeble, 68, a retired fire captain and paramedic with the Burnsville Fire Department for nearly 30 years, lives up the street from where the shooting took place.

He woke up to the chaotic scene outside his home and watched SWAT team members bring three victims to the front of his house where they were put into waiting ambulances, he said.

Having a fellow firefighter shot was hard to comprehend.

“It was once in a lifetime,” he said. “Firefighters never get shot. It just doesn’t happen. For that to happen is a huge fluke and just very, very sad. It’s like losing a family member.”

An empty fire truck was parked in front of his house six hours later, its engine still running.

“In my 28 years, never ever, ever has a truck ever sat without a firefighter in it. Ever,” he said.

The fact that the truck had been sitting there abandoned and idling since 5 a.m. meant that the firefighters assigned to the truck were grieving so much, either at the hospital or at the fire station, that they had forgotten all about the truck.

“That kind of tells you the severity of it,” he said.

Ron Payne, 78, a former Burnsville fire chief, also lives nearby. He said he’s lived in the area since 1983 and that the neighborhood is quiet and has never had anything of a serious nature occur there. As former chief, he keeps in touch with the firefighters and said that they are all in his thoughts on the somber day.

“I’m very concerned,” he said. “For my friends and people I’ve known and worked with.”

He was leaving his home Sunday morning to head over to the fire station to offer moral support, he said.

Grief-stricken officials react

During the Sunday afternoon news conference at City Hall, Burnsville Police Chief Tanya Schwartz choked up as she said that the community is “heartbroken” over the deaths.

“We’re hurting,” Schwartz said. “We’re hurting. Today three members of our team made the ultimate sacrifice for this community. They are heroes. Our police officers and our fire paramedics come to work every day. They do it willingly. They know they might have to give up their life for their partners or someone else. They know they have to give up their lives sometimes and they do it anyway.”

Added Burnsville Fire Chief BJ Jungmann: “Our folks come to work every day and are willing to give the ultimate sacrifice of their life, but nobody expects it to happen. It’s a tragic day and we’re all grieving, and we’re all trying to understand what happened and why.”

Gov. Tim Walz, who attended the news conference and ordered that U.S. and state flags be lowered to half-staff at sunrise Monday, asked people to keep the families of the victims in their prayers.

In addition, he asked that as people see the flags at half-staff this week, that they not only use it as an opportunity to mourn and show respect but also to think about all the Minnesotans who work in public safety.

“As you drive by these flags, maybe pause and think about (them),” he said. “They are moms and dads, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, they are the world to a lot of people. And they go out and do a job to provide us safety that we have the luxury of not having to think about many times. And then this can happen.”

“These families are forever impacted,” Walz said, “and we still have Minnesotans willing to take an oath, sign up, do the work and know this can happen. And that speaks volumes about this community and speaks volumes about Minnesotans.”

City Manager Gregg Lindberg, also visibly choked up during the news conference, asked residents to go to burnsvillemn.gov/communityupdates for information about the shooting and future ways to financially help the families of the victims.

Earlier Sunday, Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth Kautz said the city’s focus was on the families of its police and fire department personnel.

When asked if there was anything she wanted people to know, Kautz, Burnsville’s mayor since 1994, didn’t hesitate in answering: “Pray for us.”

The Law Enforcement Labor Services represents rank-and-file officers and the supervisors of the Burnsville Police Department.

The organization’s executive director, Jim Mortenson, said in a statement that “thoughts and prayers are with the family of the officers and first responder” who were killed.

“These officers were struck down while answering the call of duty to serve and protect. We mourn alongside the Burnsville community and the families of those killed,” the statement said.

Other Minnesota politicians and law enforcement agencies flooded social media with condolences:

Dakota County Sheriff Joe Leko called the killings devastating.

Police vehicles and an officer seen across a snowy lot.
A police officer walks across a road after two police officers and a first responder were shot and killed Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024, in Burnsville. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

“It’s just a stark reminder of how quickly things can change and how dangerous our jobs are. And sometimes we take those things for granted as citizens — that the police will always be there and protect … and we do, but with that comes a cost at times.”

“Learned from police this morning that three officers have been shot in Burnsville,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “They were doing their jobs. They were protecting our community.”

The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association posted on X: “We are heartbroken. Our law enforcement community is heartbroken.  We’re just devastated at the horrific loss. These heroes leave behind loved ones and a community who will forever remember their bravery and dedication keeping Minnesotans safe.”

U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, whose district includes Burnsville, said in a statement: “My heart is broken for the brave officers and first responder lost in the line of duty, their families, the Burnsville Police Department and our entire community. For these public servants, this was just another day delivering on their oath to protect and serve — to keep Minnesotans safe. And now their families — and the city of Burnsville — will never be the same.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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