Family IDs man shot to death by Crookston police

A family member has identified the man who was fatally shot by officers of the Crookston Police Department last weekend at a homeless shelter.

An officer killed Christopher Junkin late Sunday night as a group of officers were responding to a fight at a homeless shelter, Crookston Police Chief Darin Selzler said. Junkin was identified by his niece.

Amanda Elliott posted on a fundraising campaign web page that she is raising money “for my uncle’s cremation to get him back home to be with his family and back to his home state” of California.

Elliott posted that Junkin’s survivors include three children.

Officers were called about 11:45 p.m. to the Care and Share shelter in the 200 block of E. 3rd Street over a fight in progress and encountered a man, now identified by his family as Junkin, who “was being combative toward officers,” Selzler said.

Junkin did not follow verbal commands before he was shot, Selzler added in a prepared statement.

Officers fired nonlethal rounds before one officer fired a department-issued handgun and struck Junkin, Selzler said. Police have yet to say whether Junkin was armed. The officer who fired the lethal round has not been identified.

Officers provided emergency aid at the scene but Junkin died, Selzler said.

Officials with the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are leading the investigation. The agency said it would release more information once a preliminary investigation is complete.

This is the second shooting involving an officer in Crookston in recent months. On May 16, two Crookston police officers and a Polk County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Andrew Dale, 35.

The officers were responding to a 911 call about a man wielding a hatchet. Dale reportedly charged at officers, who used less-lethal rounds before shooting him. Dale died at a hospital.