BURNSVILLE, Minn. (news agencies) — A desperate call for help from a home in suburban Minneapolis early Sunday turned deadly for two police officers and a first responder who were shot and killed, according to officials. A suspect in the shooting also died, officials said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said on Facebook that in addition to those killed, other officers were injured.
The shootings took place in a suburban neighborhood in Burnsville, Minnesota, which was ringed with police cars that kept the press and public away from the scene where the shootings took place. The deaths of the two Burnsville police officers and the first responder were confirmed by the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association.
The association also said negotiations with a suspect went on for four hours before a SWAT team entered the home in the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville. Seven children were inside the home. It wasn’t immediately known if any of the children were harmed.
Details on how the suspect died were not immediately released.
“We are heartbroken. Our law enforcement community is heartbroken. We’re just devastated at the horrific loss,” Brian Peters, executive director of MPPOA, which represents public safety professionals in the state, said in a statement.
The shooting happened in a tree-lined neighborhood with two-story homes. A police armored vehicle parked nearby had bullet damage to its windshield, but there was no confirmation on whether that was the result of the incident. The street was lined with police cars, firefighters and ambulances.
Burnsville police, fire and city officials, including the mayor, didn’t immediately return phone or email messages from media seeking comment.