A man with a permit to carry a firearm fatally shot an armed would-be robber on a Brooklyn Park street, authorities said Tuesday.
The two men exchanged gunfire about 8:05 p.m. Monday in the 7500 block of Imperial Drive, police said. Officers arrived at the scene and found the man who was attempting the robbery on the ground.
The person targeted in the robbery has a valid permit to carry a handgun and was not arrested, said Deputy Police Chief Mark Bruley.
Officers recovered both guns at the scene as they continue to investigate the shooting. Police have not released the identities of the two involved in the confrontation.
Bruley said the man who died "goes back and forth between Brooklyn Park and Minneapolis. He's an individual we've known from previous contact. He certainly hangs out around here," he said, declining to explain further.
By Tuesday evening, two Hennepin County Sheriff's Office crime lab vehicles were still at the scene. Officers were surveying an area in the parking lot between an Imperial Gates apartment building and an unattached three-car garage.
One neighbor said his 9-year-old son thought he heard firecrackers Monday night until they saw police vehicles and heard the commotion of the investigation. The neighbor later learned about the shooting from the news.
Another neighbor, Kevin Brisky, said there's a large family that lives in the house where the incident started, evident by the many cars that usually spill out of the driveway. On Tuesday, there was one vehicle parked outside. No one answered the door.
