GLENDORADO TOWNSHIP, Minn. - Five officers with a search warrant were shot Thursday morning during an exchange of gunfire with a man who was inside his home with numerous guns, according to law enforcement sources.
The officers, all part of a drug task force from a nearby county, were expected to survive their injuries, Benton County Sheriff Troy Heck said. Two were hit in their bullet-resistant vests and released from medical facilities, while the others remained hospitalized Thursday .
The suspect, 64-year-old Karl Thomas Holmberg, was wounded before his apprehension but the extent and cause of his injuries were not immediately known, Heck said. A woman who was in Holmberg's house, just west of Princeton, Minn., during the shootout was evaluated at a local hospital and released. No one else was in the house at the time, Heck said.
The officers, assigned to the Sherburne County Drug Task Force, had arrived to search Holmberg's home in the 200 block of NE. 190th Avenue shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday. They shouted from outside the house that they were there, but when they entered the house they were met with gunfire, Heck said, adding that "it unfolded very quickly."
The officers retreated, and for several hours negotiations with Holmberg continued as officers urged him to surrender. Holmberg eventually gave up, and he was arrested at 10:47 a.m.
Heck declined to answer questions about the guns used, if Holmberg lawfully owned any weapons or who did the shooting, saying the investigation continues. A copy of the search warrant that was being served at the time of the shooting was not immediately available.
Holmberg's criminal history includes a felony drug conviction in 2006 and another conviction for the same offense in the mid-1980s, according to court records.
Heck said he was aware of Holmberg before Thursday's shooting. Asked if he was surprised by what took place, he said one word: "No."