Burnsville is a southern suburb of about 63,000 in the Twin Cities. Two police officers and one firefighter paramedic were shot and killed during a domestic disturbance call this morning, another police officer was also injured but will survive.

I have one good friend who is a Captain for Burnsville Fire and know two other fire medics there whom I worked when they were with the ambulance service that my fire department uses for transport. I was very relieved to get that simple text saying "I'm ok" upon hearing of the incident this morning. Needless to say I am a little rattled today and very sad for all those involved:

Source:
https://bringmethenews.com/min...lle-first-responders

From the article:

Seven children, ages 2-15 years old, were inside the Burnsville home where two Burnsville police officers and a firefighter-paramedic were fatally shot Sunday morning.

None of the children were physically injured during the shocking ordeal that began in the middle of the night when a resident from inside the home on the 12600 block of 33rd Ave. S. called to report a domestic disturbance.

According to Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans, called the call for help involving seven children "very troubling" and noted that officers attempted to negotiate with the subject before the man opened fire, killing two officers and the medic as well as injuring another member of the Burnsville Police Department.


The suspect, who has not been identified, also died during the encounter. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday and those results will determine whether the man took his own life or was killed by officers returning gunfire.

"We still don't know the exact exchange of gunfire that occurred," said Evans. "Certainly several officers did return fire. And I'll note that this individual had several guns and large amounts of ammunition and shot at the police officers from multiple positions within the home in that incident. The exact timing and cadence of what occurred will be part of our active investigation as we review video, officers' bodycams, video that might be in the area, conduct interviews and all available evidence to really figure out exactly what occurred in this incident."

"At least one of the officers were shot inside of the home, the other two that were deceased, we're still piecing together if it was inside or outside of the home, but I can tell you that officers took fire inside of the home and outside of the home," Evans said.

Evans said officers who shot at by the man both inside and outside, and from the second and main levels of the home.

Killed in the line of duty were officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27, and fire-medic Adam Finseth, 40. Finseth was part of the SWAT that responded to the call.

Burnsville Police Sgt. Adam Medlicott suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting and is being treated at a local hospital.

"Today three members of our team made the ultimate sacrifice for this community. They are heroes," said Tanya Schwartz, Burnsvilles' chief of police. "Our police officers and our fire=paramedics, they come to work every day. They do it willingly. They know that they might have to give up their life, for their partners, for someone else. They know they have to give up their life sometime, and they do it anyways and you cannot understand it if you're not in the profession.

"Every day we want them to go home to their families. Every day we pray that they go home to their families. And today that's not happening. We are all hurting, our officers, our fire department, our families, all of our staff, our community. We're heartbroken. We are going to need time to be together. Please, our families need time to grieve, they need time to be together. We need you to pray for them, that's what we need right now."

According to a news release from the city of Burnsville, police responded the home at 1:50 a.m. The subject had barricaded himself inside with family members. Approximately six hours after the initial 911 call, police learned that the gunman was dead inside the home. The children and family members in the home with him were able to escape after 8 a.m., Evans said.

About the fallen officers, paramedic:

Elmstrand joined the Burnsville Police Department in August 2017 as a community service officer. He was promoted to officer in July of 2019 and served as a member of the department’s mobile command staff, peer team, Honor Guard and field training unit.

Ruge joined the Burnsville Police Department in April of 2020 and was a member of the department’s crisis negotiations team and also worked as a physical evidence officer.

Finseth joined the Burnsville Fire Department as a firefighter and paramedic in 2019.

Community members plan to hold a vigil outside Burnsville City Hall around 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

“We must never take for granted the bravery and sacrifices our first responders make each and every day," Gov. Tim Walz shared in a statement. "Today, the families of these public servants received the call they knew was possible but hoped would never come," he continued. "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."

Edited to clean up the italics from the article, did not intend to have that huge run on paragraph, thanks Bytes

The world is worse off today without these heroes. This is terrible news.

I saw this earlier today and it hits close to home….Im retired now but was a fire/medic on our regional SWAT team for 15 years as a medic …..RIP Brothers, prayers to the family and departments.

So incredibly sad.

I just have no words.

Its very sad and as FF somewhat close to home. But the description of the whole thing leaves a lot of room to speculate exactly what happened and why. Hopefully they won't sweep it all under the rug. In my area no Paramedic is going anywhere near a scene until the PD has declared it safe so I don't get exactly how he gets killed. And the inside or outside where people got shot seems particularly troublesome. I'll try and follow this.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
It’s very sad and as FF somewhat close to home. But the description of the whole thing leaves a lot of room to speculate exactly what happened and why. Hopefully they won't sweep it all under the rug. In my area no Paramedic is going anywhere near a scene until the PD has declared it safe so I don't get exactly how he gets killed. And the inside or outside where people got shot seems particularly troublesome. I'll try and follow this.

SWAT teams have been integrating medics since a study was done on officer fatalities specifically on tactical call-outs…the study concluded that IF…an officer received immediate medical attention by a paramedic that was present at the time of injury….as opposed to waiting for scene deemed safe and stand-by ambulance that’s a mile or more away…the likelihood of survival would dramatically increase for that officer. The study was done if I recall correctly, by the CDC a couple decades ago.

I retired a year and a half ago….28.5 years fire service, started with my paramedic and kept it my entire career, was a Captain and shift commander…….the tactical teams wanting a medic look at the fire service for a couple reasons…they know the individuals from working side by side over the years and fire service guys are vetted before they get hired….you don’t get that with private or commercial ambulance services. Tactical teams know who they want as a result, and approach them privately and ask if they are interested….thats what happened in my case and any medic that’s on the team. Those chosen, train and respond to all call outs…we had an 8 hour training day every other week…all year long. The medics train in the “stack” and make entries, are weapons familiar, drive the bearcat, and bring fire service knowledge to the table for the team…cops are horrible at forcible entry and firemen are pretty damned experienced…we teach them how to properly use a Haligan and be proficient….LE loves their battering rams but give them a commercial door that opens out and they have no idea….or ask them to shut off a gas meter…good luck!
Typically, with my old team, if it was just a small residential structure, I would be in the bearcat on the front lawn…close enough to get in if it goes sideways quickly….large buildings or commercial, I’m in the stack with the entry team. Either way all team members and the medics know how to move and keep the medic as safe as possible if they go interior….yes, there are risks and we all know it.
It takes a lot of training for all team members involved with all the variables….so the true “SWAT” medics are front and center when shit hoes down…..hopefully never does but you know it can…..It did for me one night as well and by some miracle we had no team fatalities…but I did have 7 officers severely injured in the blink of an eye almost 6 years ago…my worst night ever!
The regular street medics….yes, they are staged away from the scene and don’t enter until it’s safe to do so…..but in a lot of places a true trained SWAT medic is an integral part of that team and doing his thing to hopefully get everyone home at the end of the call.

This has been a hard weekend on first responders.

7 LAFD Firefighters hurt in a truck explosion

1 Firefighter deceased and 13 others injured in a house explosion in Virginia

2 Police officers & 1 Firefighter Paramedic killed in this incident.

Bad weekend.

AFAIK this scene was a couple of officers and for some odd reason a paramedic?? NOT a SWAT team, not an entry by a tactical team, not anything related. I get your context, but that whole discussion while relevant in the context of paramedics on Tactical entry teams doesn't seem to be related to the described situation to me.
But maybe the information as noted above are not correct. In that case there is very little excuse for these deaths.

I believe it will come to light that this was indeed a SWAT team…..the reporting leaves a little to the imagination as usual

You are probably right given the now reported hours of negotiation. But given that I have no idea how these people would be killed in that context.

I've read that the EMT left safe cover to attend one of the officers that was down when he was shot. Our liberals in power here who have worked the last few years to defund and disband the police and to make sure the world knew all these cops are racists and who gave them absolute zero support during the riots are all giving out their empty condolences. That's about as disgusting as the shooting themselves.

No report on the shooter identity. Seven kids in the house from 2 to 15 years of age and other family members. None hurt.

quote:

No report on the shooter identity.

Local news outlets are not posting his name/photo…cause…this is Minneapolis and he does not fit their narrative.

As you can imagine, the local politicians have all paused their ‘defund the police’ rhetoric to offer instead, “Thoughts and Prayers”.

Hypocrites.

From Alpha News MN:

“Several sources have identified Shannon Cortez Gooden, 38, as the deceased suspect in the shooting today that killed 2 Burnsville police officers and a fire medic. He petitioned to have his gun rights restored in 2020 in relation to a 2008 felony assault conviction.” (His rights were not restored)




https://x.com/julienelsonkare/...tCBnx7UrO8b-vBzqnfTg

^^^
Looks like a fine upstanding member blah blah blah… if this guy was a white conservative, he’d have been all OVER the news. There’s a reason he isn’t front page news.

This hits close to home so sad. I worked next to Burnsville for most of my career. I heard what started the call and if you can piece this together the wife caught him with one of the kids.

Why can’t murder suicides start with the suicide? This punk was clearly out of control and had been for years. No one who was responsible to manage him, did.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
He petitioned to have his gun rights restored in 2020 in relation to a 2008 felony assault conviction.” (His rights were not restored)

Reading on Reddit, one guy claims he heard the suspect's name on a police scanner. Also from Reddit, the guy apparently has a felony history of aggravated assault and "terrorist threats", thus the reason he is a prohibited person from owning firearms.


And a bit more stuff here, including some of his social media postings.
https://heavy.com/news/shannon-cortez-gooden/

Originally posted by darthfuster:

quote:

Why can’t murder suicides start with the suicide?

I asked a retired judge that exact question a few years ago. It was his opinion that many times it begins as a murder, then the suicide occurs once the perpetrator grasps the enormity of their action.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: NOCkid,

quote:

Originally posted by NOCkid:

quote:

Why can’t murder suicides start with the suicide?

I asked a retired judge that exact question a few years ago. It was his opinion that many times it begins as a murder, then the suicide occurs once the perpetrator grasps the enormity of their action.

I had this exact conversation with the little missus this morning. When the realization that they are truly fucked hits them, it is overwhelming to imagine any other way out of the situation they created.

Very sad situation to hear. You never know what call you get might be your last. I am always a little leery going into a structure late at night in certain areas due to the amount of violence and lack of respect for human life, let alone those of us in the field in which the badge becomes a target, no matter which badge you have police or fire. Sad state of affairs we live in with our political "leaders" not having your back.

Not to be contrarian but if you are (as iss reported) negotiating for hours the idea you are leery when you go is somewhat not relevant. They knew (or should have known) the circumstances they were facing.