Scott County deputy fires shots during raid on wrong house

A Scott County deputy responding to a call of a domestic dispute burst into a house and, when the occupants yelled that they had a gun, fired several shots.

The house, however, was the wrong building. The call had come from a second building on the property, in the 23000 block of Logan Way. No one was injured in the shooting.

"My impression is they thought that somebody was breaking into their house," Scott County Sheriff Kevin Studnicka said. "They didn't realize it was a deputy."

Studnicka said the deputy was sent to the address to respond to the disturbance call, which came in about 5 p.m. A knock on the door of the house went unanswered, so he forced his way in through the front door. Two men living in the house announced they had a gun, and the deputy fired, Studnicka said.

The deputy then left the house, and the residents called 911 to report a break-in.

A patrol sergeant en route to the address realized the miscommunication and spoke to the two men living in the house when he arrived, Studnicka said.

The men in the house did not know that people in the other building 100 to 200 yards behind the house, which Studnicka said was similar to a pole barn, had called 911.

But instead of responding to that residence, the deputy went to the house on the hill in front of it.

Toivola's roommate, Justin Ashton, said he noticed that the deputy had gone to the house and tried, unsuccessfully, to wave him down toward the other residence. Toivola said it was at least half an hour later before anyone from the Sheriff's Office came down to the pole barn area.

Scott County records show that the entire property belongs to John Friedges, whose listed mailing address is in Lakeville. Toivola, who rents the pole barn residence from Friedges, said his landlord's two sons live in the house.

Toivola said he saw five bullet holes in the walls of the house, including three going up the stairs, when he visited the men Monday.

"They went through hell up there," Toivola said. "I would have felt really bad if something bad had happened to them."

The deputy, whose name Studnicka would not release, is on paid administrative leave pending the results of an investigation by the Dakota County Sheriff's Office.

Studnicka declined to speculate on why the deputy fired but said it seemed logical that he would go to the house, not the outbuilding, when called to the address.

"I don't know exactly what it is that he saw," Studnicka said. "If he felt that at some point in time he may be in a dangerous situation, he's going to draw his weapon."

Neither Toivola nor his girlfriend were arrested in connection with the domestic dispute call.

The incident comes just weeks after the city of Minneapolis agreed to a settlement of more than $600,000 for a raid on the wrong residence in 2007. In that instance, the SWAT team, acting on wrong information, exchanged fire with Vang Khan in his north Minneapolis home. Khan thought the officers were criminal intruders.