Domestic calls like one in Brooklyn Park among most dangerous, former police instructor says

The urgent radio dispatches went out on what had been a quiet Friday evening in Brooklyn Park.

“Brooklyn Park Officer’s been shot.”

Then moments later: “An officer down at … Georgia Avenue.”

A frightening scene along the 6500 block of the avenue, not far from Crystal Airport and south of Interstate 94.

One nearby resident recalling he heard twenty shots from inside his house.

Then, an urgent search, involving more than 100 officers, before a suspect was captured.

“There was an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and both officers,” Brooklyn Park Police Chief Craig Enevoldsen told reporters many hours later. “At this point, I think everyone is just taking an opportunity to try to take a deep breath and soak in what happened.”

Bullet holes in a garage door mark the spot of a dramatic exchange of gunfire between police and a suspect.

Police say just after 10 p.m. Friday night, two Brooklyn Park officers were called to a Georgia Avenue home. A woman inside had called the authorities, concerned about a car — and the driver inside it — parked outside.

"(The) caller reported that there was an individual in a vehicle in the driveway that she had an order of protection against,” Enevoldsen said.

Police say when the officers approached, the unidentified suspect began getting out of the car.

"They asked him to shut the vehicle off,” Enevoldsen said. “He then reached into the vehicle where it appears he retrieved a weapon that he produced and pointed it at the officers, at which time gunfire was exchanged.”

Officer in stable condition after being shot in Brooklyn Park Friday night

Authorities are now investigating who fired first.

“Somebody pulls a gun on you, you don’t have to wait to have them shoot at you first,” said Mylan Masson, a former Minneapolis Park Police officer and police training instructor at Hennepin Technical College.

She said calls like this can be among the most dangerous for responding officers.

"If they have a gun pointed at you, you assume they’re going to shoot you,” she said. “So you have to take action to try to protect yourself and the others that are around you."

Both the suspect and one officer were shot, each with non-life-threatening injuries.

But it didn’t end there.

Authorities say the suspect ran off, and more than 100 officers from departments across the metro area began combing the area.

Masson says approaching any domestic call can be tricky — and dangerous.

“But you want to make sure to approach, listen, see if you can hear, maybe if there are weapons. Can you hear somebody screaming, ‘Help me, help me’” she explained.

Less than an hour later, officers captured the suspect just three blocks from the shooting scene. Investigators say they recovered a handgun in the area.

Both the officer and the suspect were transported to different hospitals.

The wounded officer, identified as a 15-year veteran of the force, was treated and released early Saturday morning and is in good spirits, Enevoldsen said.

"Luckily the officer’s OK,” he said. “From what I saw how they responded, they responded exceptionally well to the situation."

Police have not identified the suspect.

He’s now in the Hennepin County Jail, booked on probable cause first-degree assault.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is now investigating the case.

Masson says in these kinds of situations, split-second decisions on whether or not to shoot are part of the job.

“You usually have to make that decision in about 1.5 seconds,” she said. “Hindsight is always good, and everybody has hindsight after the situation is completed. But when you’re in that situation, it’s very difficult to make these decisions, and make them with good sound tactics you need to do.”