A violent "whirlwind of events" in a St. Cloud Hospital room early Sunday morning left two men dead, including a 24-year veteran of the Aitkin County Sheriff's Office. The man who shot him was tased by another sheriff's deputy and died at the scene, authorities said.
"A suspect being treated at St. Cloud Hospital shot and killed a sheriff's deputy who had been monitoring the welfare of the suspect who was a subject of an investigation outside the St. Cloud tri-county area," said Jill Oliveira, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).
The BCA said that the incident was confined to the suspect's hospital room and that no one else was injured.
The deputy was identified as Steven M. Sandberg, 60, who had been with the Sheriff's Office since 1991 and had worked as an investigator for the past 20 years.
The suspect was Danny Leroy Hammond, 50, said BCA Superintendent Drew Evans during a news conference in St. Cloud.
Hammond, of rural Aitkin, was in the hospital for medical reasons following a domestic dispute, Evans said.
Hammond was not in police custody, Evans said, but he was being monitored by law enforcement officers "at the request of St. Cloud Hospital." He was not handcuffed, Evans added.
Suspect couldn't be saved
A struggle ensued after Hammond got out of his bed, Evans said, and he got hold of Sandberg's gun and squeezed off several rounds.