Authorities have arrested the man wanted in the warrant served in Minnetonka that turned violent earlier this month, injuring two sheriff’s deputies and leaving another man dead.
Authorities arrest Minnetonka man originally wanted before fatal shootout
The suspect lived a half-mile from the home where deputies attempted to serve his warrant April 10.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
April 20, 2024 at 9:24PM
Joshua Ramos, 34, of Minnetonka was arrested Thursday in St. Paul with the help of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, St. Paul police and Ramsey County authorities. Hennepin County confirmed that Ramos was the subject of the warrant that authorities attempted to serve.
Ramos was being held Saturday at the Hennepin County jail, authorities said.
It was Ramos whom authorities intended to arrest while executing the search warrant on April 10 in Minnetonka. According to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, sheriff’s deputies knocked and announced themselves while entering a home in the 13400 block of E. Crestwood Drive. But Clint Hoyhtya, 28, fired at them with an assault-style rifle while wearing a tactical vest with ballistic plates, according to the BCA.
Hoyhtya wounded deputy Keith McNamara with shrapnel, and multiple bullets struck deputy Christopher Heihn. Law enforcement officers set up a perimeter and returned fire, eventually killing Hoyhtya.
McNamara was treated and released at the scene, and Heihn was treated and discharged from Hennepin Healthcare the next day. An autopsy by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner later confirmed that authorities’ gunfire killed Hoyhtya.
The address listed for Ramos is a half-mile from the home where deputies encountered Hoyhtya.
“Police shot the wrong guy,” Thomas Hoyhtya, Clint’s father and the homeowner, told the Star Tribune. “They kicked in the door, he was in the back and probably playing video games. It was his day off.”
According to court documents, Ramos was wanted for violating his probation. A judge placed him on probation in October 2020 after Ramos was convicted of violating a domestic abuse no-contact order. He allegedly failed to contact his probation officer and violated his chemical dependency evaluation or treatment.
Ramos was also convicted for violating a no-contact order in 2021, and of criminal vehicular operation in 2019. In that case, Ramos backed out of a driveway and into a car driven by a woman and her 9-year-old daughter. He allegedly ran back into the home and hid in an attic crawl space. Authorities tasered and arrested him, concluding that Ramos was under the influence of a controlled substance.
Star Tribune staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this story.
“This was certainly not an outcome that we were hoping would materialize, and we know that today’s path forward does not provide a perfect solution,” interim OCM director Charlene Briner said Wednesday.
