Man shot, injured during St. Paul Park armed standoff

• Sheriff Bill Hutton

Washington County Sheriff Bill Hutton answers questions about an armed standoff in St. Paul Park during a Tuesday news conference. Bulletin photo by Scott Wente

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Police shot a 22-year-old man early Tuesday after he fired “multiple, multiple” gunshots at law enforcement during a four-hour standoff at a St. Paul Park home, Washington County Sheriff Bill Hutton said.

The man was injured, arrested and transported to Regions Hospital where he was in surgery Tuesday morning, Hutton said. No law enforcement officers were hit or injured during the incident that prompted police to evacuate some neighbors and required the help of the Washington County Special Response Team.

“This was a very, very serious situation where he was trying to kill police officers,” Hutton said at a Tuesday morning news conference.

Hutton did not immediately release the man’s name or hometown, but provided the following details:

Police initially were called around 1:30 a.m. on a report of a suicidal man walking on railroad tracks near Ninth and Pullman avenues. Police saw the man enter a home in the 1000 block of Summit Avenue, which is near the railroad tracks.

St. Paul Park officers followed the man into the home and made contact with other adults inside before being approached by the suspect, who was wielding a firearm. Hutton said the officers were able to exit the home safely and were then joined by the Special Response Team, a tactical unit of police from agencies throughout the county.

The suspect was armed with a long-barrel rifle and a shotgun in the home and began to fire rounds at police outside, Hutton said.

The sheriff said officers avoided being struck by the many rounds by hiding “as small as you can get.”

Over the next roughly four hours, the man continued to fire at officers, hitting nobody. A county SWAT negotiator talked with the man by phone at least three times. The man made suicidal comments and threatened law enforcement, Hutton said.

When the incident began there were three other adults in the home – two women and a man – who are friends and family of the suspect, Hutton said. There were no children in the home. At one point, one woman exited the home and was arrested. The other two adults also left the home unharmed. They were being questioned Tuesday but had not been arrested.

The man continued to fire shots at police and was not complying with police orders, so authorities deployed tear gas into the home, Hutton said. A Special Response Team officer then shot the man from outside the home. He was taken into custody at approximately 6:15 a.m. and transported to the St. Paul hospital.

The man has a criminal record, but Hutton did not say what that involved or whether there have been previous police calls to the Summit Avenue home. One of the adults in the home with the suspect reported that he was intoxicated.

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Tags: st paul park, crime and courts, updates, crime