BCA investigating after off-duty MPD officer fires gun during ‘person in crisis’ incident
State investigators are reviewing an incident in which an off-duty Minneapolis police officer fired a gun in the midst of a domestic disturbance involving another armed person.
According to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, officers responded to a report that a person in crisis was threatening a family member with a gun around 12:20 p.m. on the 3700 block of 27th Avenue South. The off-duty officer who reported the incident told dispatchers that shots were fired inside the home.
That officer left his home through a second-story window and onto the roof until police got him down with a ladder, O’Hara said. The officer fired his gun at some point, according to police.
Two other people, a man and a woman, were also inside the home and were able to leave safely.
Members of the Minneapolis SWAT team and crisis negotiators responded to the incident, and O’Hara said the person in crisis was coming in and out of the house while armed with at least one weapon. People who had called 911 said they heard shots fired outside the home.
The person in crisis surrendered around 1:20 p.m. and was booked into jail on suspicion of second-degree assault, O’Hara said. No one was hurt.
O’Hara said he classified the event as a “critical incident” and requested the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to lead the investigation because one of his department’s officers used deadly force. The off-duty officer is on administrative leave.
The BCA will release the name of the officer and person in crisis at some point in the future.