Man who exchanged gunfire with officer at St. Paul intersection dies

A man who exchanged gunfire with a St. Paul police officer at a busy intersection Thursday has died of his injuries.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said 24-year-old Brandon Daleshaun Keys of Maplewood was the man shot by police yesterday afternoon. Keys was taken to Regions Hospital for treatment and died of a gunshot wound to the head early Friday morning.

Michael Tschida was identified as the officer who shot Keys. Tschida was shot in the leg and was also taken to Regions Hospital for treatment and was released. Tschida, a 14-year law enforcement veteran, is now on administrative leave — a standard practice for officers involved in BCA use-of-force investigations.

According to information gathered by the BCA so far, a woman called police to report a order for protection violation. She said she was driving with another man in her passenger seat when Keys pulled up behind her vehicle and began hitting it from behind with his own. She said Keys had a gun.

The woman stopped at the intersection of North Cretin and Marshall Avenues, blocks from the University of St. Thomas, and Keys left his car to approach her vehicle. Tschida then arrived and told Keys to get on the ground.

That's when BCA officials said the two exchanged gunfire. The woman and her passenger were not injured.

Investigators recovered a handgun from the scene and say they are canvassing the area for witnesses, video footage and other clues to determine what happened. Tschida's body-worn-camera also captured the incident, but it's unclear if or when that will be made public.

Dozens of St. Paul squad cars responded to yesterday's shooting, cordoning off blocks around the crime scene to recover evidence.

Keys was due in Hennepin County District Court next Monday for a hearing in connection with a two-year order for protection secured in October by a 38-year-old woman who shares a 5-year-old child with him, according to court records. It's unclear whether she is the same woman involved in Thursday's incident.

The Minneapolis woman's petition for protection alleged that Keys kept her captive in her home on Oct. 19 for 4 ½ hours while swearing and yelling at her. "I tried to leave, but he wouldn't let me," she wrote in the petition.

She also had an order for protection taken out in 2018, when she alleged that Keys gave her a black eye and bruises. "[He] has a history of beating me physically," she wrote.

The woman added that he stalked her over the phone and kept driving by her workplace. "He called back to back so much, I had to turn my phone off."

Keys has been convicted twice for misdemeanor domestic abuse, both times for violating an order for protection involving the same woman, court records show. One violation occurred when he broke into the woman's home in St. Cloud, caused property damage and stole items. The second violation occurred when Keys was with the woman at a county government office.

That woman and Keys' parents could not be reached for comment.

Tschida was one of four St. Paul police officers who fired in the killing of Jaffort Demont Smith. Police shot Smith about 3:30 a.m. May 9, 2016, in the 700 block of Buffalo Street after he fired on them and ignored repeated orders to drop his weapon following an encounter outside a towing company.

Smith also had shot and wounded a 49-year-old woman with him who eventually lost her eye. A grand jury ultimately issued no charges against the officers involved.

Last year Smith's family sued the officers and the city of St. Paul in federal court, alleging Smith's civil rights were violated. That lawsuit is still pending after a settlement was not reached during a conference Dec. 1.

According to a Star Tribune database, at least 230 people have been killed in Minnesota during encounters with law enforcement.

Star Tribune staff writer Katie Galioto contributed to this report.