An armed suspect jumped out of a moving vehicle he had stolen and ran onto a busy Burnsville highway, where he tried to steal another vehicle before police fatally shot him Sunday afternoon.
Burnsville police exchange gunfire with carjacking suspect, who was killed
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating.
April 18, 2021 at 11:01PM
The man ran in front of a moving SUV on Hwy. 13 near Interstate 35W, waving what appeared to be a gun at the driver, who drove across the median and onto the oncoming traffic lane to escape. No one was hurt.
In a statement, Burnsville police said the suspect, believed to be a white male in his 20s, was taken to HCMC, where he was pronounced dead.
Police first encountered the man driving a vehicle with stolen plates, which crashed. A short time later, he carjacked a vehicle, leading officers in pursuit.
"Burnsville police pursued the carjacked car and the suspect allegedly fired shots at officers before crashing the vehicle and continuing to fire at officers. Multiple officers returned fire," the statement said.
Video from the Minnesota Department of Transportation showed the man leaping out of a moving white car, then running along the median and into traffic, where he ran in front of the white SUV, which evaded him.
According to emergency scanner traffic audio, officers in pursuit reported that the suspect fired twice out the back window of the stolen vehicle.
The officers involved were placed on standard administrative leave. All Burnsville police officers wear body cameras. Camera data will be handled by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which was on the scene and will lead the investigation, police said.
Reports of the police shooting spread through a crowd of protesters outside the residence of Gov. Tim Walz in St. Paul.
The protesters chanted and repeated Daunte Wright's name and the names of other victims of police-involved shootings in Minnesota and across the country.
Word of Sunday's police shooting came as demonstrators were taking a knee during a moment of silence outside the Governor's Residence on Summit Avenue.
Some in the crowd said they were planning to head to Burnsville, although organizers told protesters to go to Brooklyn Center instead.
The peaceful rally in St. Paul was held one week after Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by a white police officer during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center.
In addition, closing arguments are set to begin Monday in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, who is on trial in the death of George Floyd.
Kim Hyatt • 612-673-4751
Republicans across the country benefited from favorable tailwinds as President-elect Donald Trump resoundingly defeated Democrat Kamala Harris. But that wasn’t the whole story in Minnesota.
