BCA: Officers identified in St. Paul incident involving suspect charged in multiple shootings

Officials have identified the St. Paul officers in a shooting on Monday that involved a man who has been charged in multiple recent incidents.

As previously reported, officers were called to the intersection of Snelling and University Avenue West around 7:45 p.m. for a report of shots being fired. There, law enforcement found a suspect armed with a handgun, and police then started negotiating with him.

Bennett didn’t put the gun down or surrender and continued walking south until he reached the intersection of University and Snelling avenues.

St. Paul police say that’s when Bennett pointed the gun at his own head and walked in the middle of traffic lanes and on the median between traffic on Snelling Avenue before stopping on the light rail tracks.

That’s where police say they used less lethal projectiles to try to get Bennett to put the gun down, and he pointed his gun at officers, resulting in them firing their weapons and hitting him.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) states that the following officers were involved:

• Austin Borowicz, three years of law enforcement experience, fired 40mm less lethal rounds.
• Shawn Marlowe, 10 years of law enforcement experience, discharged his rifle.
• Chase Robinson, 10 years of law enforcement experience, discharged his handgun.
• Sgt. Lamichael Shead, eight years of law enforcement experience, discharged his handgun.
• Blake Steffen, four years of law enforcement experience, discharged his rifle.
• Peov Suon, three years of law enforcement experience, fired 40mm less lethal rounds.

All of the officers are on critical incident leave, according to the BCA.

On Tuesday, the suspect in the shooting was identified as 40-year-old Earl Bennett.

Bennett was charged in Ramsey County on Tuesday with one count of ineligible possession of a firearm and one count of second-degree assault in connection with the officer-involved shooting.

Bennett was also charged in Hennepin County on Tuesday.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Tuesday afternoon that Bennett is wanted in the triple shooting at a homeless encampment Sunday that left two men dead and a woman with life-threatening injuries. O’Hara also said Bennett is the suspect in a Minneapolis shooting Monday that left one man with potentially life-threatening injuries.

Bennett was charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder in that Monday shooting.

Bennett remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition at Regions Hospital. The BCA investigation of the incident is ongoing.