Police shoot, kill man after 6-hour standoff at Minneapolis apartment building

Investigators say two police officers fired their weapons at the close of an hours-long standoff that resulted in the death of 20-year-old Andrew Tekle Sundberg early Thursday morning in Minneapolis.

According to the Minneapolis Police Department, officers responded to a third-floor apartment on the 900 block of 21^st Avenue South around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday after a woman with two children said someone had shot into her unit.

Officers arriving at the scene heard more shots being fired and began evacuating the building after seeing debris exploding from the walls.

Police said they tried to communicate with Sundberg for nearly six hours and attempted to reach him via phone call, voicemail, text and video message, along with bringing his parents to the scene to help.

A man who lives on the floor and asked 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS to not reveal his identity said he tried to help the woman and calm her kids after police got them to safety.

“Every three to five minutes they announce, ‘Hey, we want to talk to you,'” the neighbor said of police. “They even brought in his family involved … they tried to talk to him … they did every precaution necessary.”

Eventually, police shot Sundberg at around 4:30 a.m. Officials say Sundberg was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“Let me be very clear, this is not the outcome we hoped for or desired,” said Minneapolis Public Information Officer Garrett Parten.

Police have released little information on what led to the shooting, other than negotiations had been ongoing, and officers had asked Sundberg to leave his apartment with his hands raised.

However, a video sent to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS from a viewer shows the final moments before the shooting.

A man can be seen climbing out of his apartment window and standing on the sill while on his phone. Law enforcement can then be seen in the stairwell, and the man also climbs back in the window at one point.

No other injuries were reported at the scene, but residents who live nearby were still scared.

“We live next door to the house, so we were just hoping like we don’t hear no gun shots because we got kids in the house. We don’t want bullets to fly through windows if it hit us – we were just laying low, hoping everything would be fine,” said neighbor Hazy Jeylani.

MPD turned the case over to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, as is customary when law enforcement officers use deadly force.

The City of Minneapolis released a heavily redacted incident report Thursday evening that listed Sundberg as “Subject #1” in the case. The data release also disclosed the names of the two Minneapolis police officers who fired their rifles: Aaron Pearson and Zachary Seraphine.

It wasn’t immediately clear if both officers’ shots struck Sundberg.

BCA records show both Pearson and Seraphine were at the Bolero Flats apartment building in downtown Minneapolis as part of the SWAT team on the day Amir Locke was killed back in February.

During the no-knock raid, Pearson is shown on body camera video opening the door into the apartment where Locke was shot. Seraphine entered a separate apartment that morning and later helped treat Locke at the scene.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey released a statement Thursday afternoon pledging transparency during the investigation.

“This is not the outcome anyone wanted. Any loss of life is tragic, and my deepest condolences go out to the family of the individual involved. I also want to express my gratitude to the City staff, including MPD officers and crisis negotiators, who worked diligently throughout the night alongside the individual’s family members. All were working together to try and reach a peaceful resolution amid dangerous circumstances while keeping nearby residents safe.

“The City will continue working to share as much information as possible in these early hours and has turned the investigation over to the BCA.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey