A 24-year-old man is in custody following a shootout with police late Tuesday near Lake Harriet in south Minneapolis.
Suspect arrested after exchanging gunfire with police near Lake Harriet in Minneapolis
A 24-year-old man is in custody after a shootout with police late Tuesday. No injuries were reported.
October 25, 2023 at 3:17PM
A Minneapolis park police officer was checking on an unoccupied vehicle that was illegally parked and blocking the driveway to the boat launch on the north shore of the lake just before the park closed at midnight when the suspect, who said he owned the vehicle, appeared.
The suspect confronted the officer, attempted to access the vehicle and was uncooperative and "combative," a statement from Minneapolis Parks Police said.
"When the officer tried to detain the subject, the subject pulled away and began firing gunshots in the direction of the park police officer," said Park Police Chief Jason Ohotto at a news conference on Wednesday morning.
The officer fired back. Despite the "short distance" between them, neither the suspect nor the officer were injured, but bullets struck the officer's squad car, Ohotto said.
The suspect fled on foot and the officer called for help. Additional officers from the park police and the Minneapolis Police Department arrived on the scene and began searching for the man.
He was found a short distance away, arrested and booked on probable cause attempted murder, police said.
The officer's squad and body-worn cameras were active during the incident, but neither the footage nor the officer's name have been released. The officer has been on the force for three and a half years. He is on paid administrative leave.
The Minneapolis Police Department is conducting a criminal investigation into the assault against the officer. Formal charges have not yet been filed.
"There are no suspects at large that we are aware of, and there is no continued risk during this incident," said Ohotto, who described violent crime rates at Lake Harriet as "low." "This was an extremely isolated incident, and particularly for that neighborhood, in that park."
The last time park police shot at a suspect may have been in 2012, when a man lured two officers to Minnehaha Creek and stabbed them, according to the chief.
Staff writer Susan Du contributed to this report.
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