Suspect dead after Duluth standoff ends with gunfire

DULUTH – A gunman in a Duluth home who fatally shot a police K-9 during a daylong standoff with law enforcement was shot and killed by police late Friday afternoon, authorities said.

"The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is on the scene of an officer-involved shooting in Duluth," the BCA tweeted about 6 p.m. "The subject of a standoff that began on Thursday at approximately 8:30 p.m. is deceased."

No officers were hurt, the BCA said.

The Duluth Police Department said only that the BCA had taken over the investigation of the standoff, which ended with multiple shots fired and demands that the suspect drop a weapon, according to witness accounts.

Officers were first called to the residence in the Lincoln Park neighborhood in response to what they were told was "a physical domestic" incident, police said.

The officers were warned that a man wanted on felony warrants was inside and refusing to surrender. A woman also was in the home, but officers got her out safely, police spokeswoman Ingrid Hornibrook said. No information on the suspect has been made available.

Throughout the day, police warned people to stay away from the area, though dozens of bystanders watched the scene unfold at the corner of a busy W. 24th Avenue and W. 4th Street. The department first informed the public of the incident 10 hours after the standoff began.

At one point, Duluth police K-9 Luna was sent in to apprehend the suspect. The man shot the dog, and officers returned fire, retreated from the home and set up a perimeter. Luna was taken to an emergency veterinary clinic and died there, according to police.

Officers positioned an armored truck in front of the multiunit home Friday morning, where the man was inside alone, while numerous officers armed with tactical gear and rifles stood behind the truck. A St. Louis County Sheriff's Office armored vehicle later thrust what appeared to be smoke grenades into the house in hopes of flushing out the suspect.

Moments later, an officer said over a loudspeaker: "David, it is time to put the gun down and come out with your hands visible."

At the time, police said he was "still alive and in the home," Hornibrook said.

After 4 p.m., shots were heard at the scene and the standoff ended as law enforcement started entering and exiting the residence freely.

A street was reopened and a BCA vehicle moved onto the site. The BCA is typically involved in investigations where law enforcement officers have discharged weapons.

Duluth Mayor Emily Larson said just before 2:30 p.m. Friday that she "commends the work of our Duluth Police Department. It's a really hard day for them."

Luna was a three-year-old female Dutch shepherd whose specialties included narcotics detection, searches and tracking, according to the Northland K-9 Foundation.

She is the second K-9 that Duluth police have lost in the line of duty in a little more than two years, both of them while partnered with officer Aaron Haller.

In January 2019, a confrontation with a man in a home ended in a shooting that left police K-9 Haas dead and an officer wounded. The suspect shot himself inside a home on Skyline Parkway during that incident.

It was the second time this week in Minnesota that a police K-9 has been hit by gunfire. Bravo, a member of the Anoka Police Department, survived being shot Sunday by a carjacking suspect during a pursuit that started in Blaine and ended after 40 miles near Braham, Minn. Police shot and killed one suspect and the other was captured and charged.