BCA identifies man shot, injured by St. Paul officer

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has identified the man shot in the arm by a St. Paul police officer who was responding to reports of an in-progress sexual assault.

Brett Kohl Fraser, 31, was shot in the arm on Saturday and survived, the bureau said Wednesday in a news release. The BCA said Fraser is a suspect in the assault police were responding to, but he has not been charged.

The officer who shot Fraser was identified as Josh Needham, who has 11 years of law enforcement experience, the BCA added. Needham has been placed on administrative leave.

St. Paul officers responded just after midnight on Saturday to Fraser's apartment in the 400 block of Thomas Avenue after a caller said a man was physically and sexually assaulting a woman, the BCA said.

The caller told police that the man had a handgun.

The officers arrived and knocked on the door, and the woman safely left the apartment.

After officers ordered Fraser to come out, he ran out into a small hallway where the officers were, the BCA said. Needham fired three shots at Fraser, striking him once in the arm, the release stated.

Fraser was taken to a hospital for treatment. He has since been released and arrested, the BCA said.

The officers were wearing body cameras during the incident.

Needham has worked as a St. Paul officer since 2019, and before that worked at the Orono Police Department, according to his LinkedIn page.

In 2013, Needham was one of four Orono officers who shot and killed an armed suspect who had just killed a doctor with a handgun.

A Hennepin County grand jury later cleared Needham and the three other officers of any wrongdoing in the death of 30-year-old Ted C. Hoffstrom.