Man fatally shot by Duluth police officer last week identified

DULUTH — The Midwest Medical Examiner's Office identified Zachary Shogren as the man fatally shot by an undercover Duluth police officer last week.

Two of the three officers involved in the incident — including the one who shot Shogren — were not identified because they are part the Lake Superior Violent Offender Task Force.

Officers went to Shogren's house on Friday afternoon to arrest him on suspicion of felony threats of violence and he met them in the alley armed with a knife, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which is reviewing the case. Sgt. Jared Blomdahl fired a Taser and another officer used less-lethal rounds when Shogren refused to drop his weapon, the BCA said.

Body camera footage shows Shogren, 34, running toward officers before he was shot, according to the BCA. The footage has not yet been released to the public. Officers tended to Shogren before he was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died. He was shot multiple times, according to the medical examiner's office.

Blomdahl has been with the Duluth Police Department for 24 years.

Shogren served in the Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq in 2011-12 where he was a gunner on convoy missions, according to his obituary. He enjoyed hiking, fishing, playing cribbage and camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. He is survived by his parents, two siblings and a dog named Z.

"He had a kind heart and loved his family," the obituary said. "Zach received unconditional support from all of us."

Shogren was convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault for a 2020 incident in Bassett Township near Hoyt Lakes, Minn. Deputies from the St. Louis County Sheriff's Department were called after he threatened to kill his parents and was outside shooting his Glock into the air. He pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm despite knowing it might harm his mother, according to court documents.