By Paul Walsh, Matt McKinney and Josie Albertson-Grove
Source Star Tribune
Five officers were shot Thursday morning at a residence west of Princeton in Benton County where a man with numerous guns was inside, according to various law enforcement sources. None of the five have life-threatening injuries.
The suspect was in custody before noon, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the incident.
Earlier Thursday, Benton County Sheriff Troy Heck said there was a "critical incident unfolding" in the 200 block of NE. 190th Avenue. He urged the public to stay away from the area as many law enforcement agencies converged on the scene in an effort to bring the situation to a close.
While Heck declined to say anything more, emergency dispatch audio disclosed that one officer was shot in the chest and the pelvis during an operation underway shortly after 7 a.m. to serve a warrant at the home.
A law enforcement official familiar with the incident said five officers were injured. None of those injuries are life threatening, the official said.
Two officers are in a hospital in St. Cloud, and three were taken to North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale Thursday morning.
The dispatch audio added that the officer was conscious and breathing while he was taken to a hospital. Another officer was shot in the leg, the audio revealed.
The suspect was holed up in his home and possessed three handguns, four long guns and ammunition, and possibly suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, the dispatch audio continued.
Officers on the scene identified the suspect as a 64-year-old man. At one point, an officer said the man was concerned about going back to prison.
Emergency vehicles including fire trucks, Humvees, squad cars and armored vehicles could be seen staging on the highway near the house; shortly after 11 a.m., the fire trucks pulled off the highway and onto the property.
The house sits about a quarter mile south of the town of Glendorado, which is little more than a few houses, a church, and a town hall. A resident who asked not to be named said she heard a squad car pass through the town at high speed around 6:45 a.m. Multiple vehicles soon followed, she said.
A nearby resident of Glendorado said he knew the man who lived at the house, a man in his 60s who matched the description provided by law enforcement. He was "off," the man said, and there were cars coming and going to the property often.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was on the scene.
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