The wife of one of the two police officers shot dead after responding to a ‘domestic incident’ along with a paramedic who went to their aid in Minneapolis remembered her ‘hero’ husband as his suspected killer was identified for the first time.
Cops Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27, and firefighter and paramedic Adam Finseth, 40, were killed. Another police officer, Sgt. Adam Medlicott, was injured and being treated at a hospital with what are believed to be non-life-threatening injuries.
The suspect has since been identified as 38-year-old Shannon Gooden, who himself was later found dead.
Elmstrand’s wife, Cindy Elmstrand-Castruita, said that his act of heroism was typical of the way Paul lived his life and that he would always ‘drop everything’ to help people.
‘I think he just had to be the hero. He had to do what he thought was right to protect those little lives even if it meant putting his at risk and it breaks my heart because now he’s gone. But I know that he thought what he did was right,’ she said.
Shannon Gooden, 38, was identified as the suspect Monday by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
The wife of one of the two police officers shot dead after responding to a ‘domestic incident’ along with a paramedic who went to their aid in Minneapolis remembered her ‘hero’ husband
Cops Paul Elmstrand (pictured) and Matthew Ruge, both 27, and firefighter and paramedic Adam Finseth, 40, were killed
The pair were high school sweethearts who met when they attended kindergarten together and had been married five years, with a two-year-old and five-month-old at home.
‘He was the most generous, loving, patient person I’ve ever known,’ Elmstrand-Castruita said.
‘He could have a conversation with anyone and make them feel seen. He would drop everything to help someone who was in need, whether it be family, friend or someone on the street.’
She told CBS News that she wouldn’t worry about her husband – who joined the police department in Burnsville in 2017 – despite his dangerous job.
‘He was a very levelheaded person,’ she said. ‘He loved his job. He saw horrible things but never once did he say, would he come home complaining.’
Unfortunately, she found out news of his death from a friend texting her that she was sorry for what she was going through on Sunday morning at around 7:30am.
‘I looked out my bedroom window and saw a squad car out there,’ she said. ‘I knew. That’s when I knew he was gone.’
She tried to look at the positives, that her children were alive to know their loving father.
Elmstrand-Castruita said that she wouldn’t worry about her husband – who joined the police department in Burnsville in 2017 – despite his dangerous job
The pair were high school sweethearts who met when they attended kindergarten together and had been married five years, with a two-year-old and five-month-old at home
Eden Prairie police officers pause next to memorials in front of the Burnsville Police Department in Burnsville
Zach Osterberg, of the Savage Fire Department, hugs his son Lincoln as they paid their respect at the memorials
‘I just keep thinking about how well he loved me and how well he loved our kids and just what a privilege it is to have experienced that, because I know that so many people don’t. But me and my kids got to,’ she said.
Gooden, 38, was identified as the suspect Monday by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Police say an armed man, believed to be Gooden, barricaded himself in a Burnsville home with seven children.
Gooden was renting the home the first responders showed up to, according to property records.
He had previous convictions for disorderly conduct in 2004 and 2005, as well as a second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon conviction in 2007.
Court records also show the state barred Gooden from possessing guns after he pleaded guilty in 2008, aged 22, to second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.
Prosecutors said he threw rocks and pulled a knife on a man in a Burnsville shopping mall parking lot.
Gooden also notably had a petition to restore his right to a firearm denied in 2020 and was entangled in a years-long dispute over the custody and financial support of his three oldest children.
Members of the Burnsville Police Department gathered outside memorials
St. Paul Police Officer Anthony Buckley places a badge on a police vehicle
Authorities told NBC News he was in possession of several guns and large amounts of ammunition.
He and his girlfriend were living together with seven children – the three oldest by one woman, two more with another and that woman’s two children from a previous relationship – between the ages of two and 15. It is believed all of them made it out of the house safely.
His standoff with police came only two days before a scheduled district court hearing over his ongoing legal disputes with the mother of his three oldest children.
Online court records show that those children spent most nights with him, but that he still he wanted to go back to court. The records do not say why.
When he petitioned a court unsuccessfully in 2020 to have his gun rights restored, he and his attorney said he had matured and that he regretted his past poor decisions.
The attorney representing Gooden in the custody dispute, Robert Manson, did not return a telephone message seeking comment.
Authorities have not provided details about Sunday’s call to Gooden´s home, and it´s not clear exactly how he died.
Burnsville police officer Matthew Ruge. The officers were called to a report of a ‘family in danger’ at a house in 33rd Avenue South, Burnsville, shortly after 2.30am
Burnsville firefighter and paramedic Adam Finseth
A note is left tucked in a window of a squad car that was one of three memorials in front of the Burnsville Police Department
Flags fly at half staff in front of the Burnsville Police Department
Medlicott, the third police officer involved, was reported to be out of the hospital as of Monday afternoon, CBS reported.
The officers were called to a report of a ‘family in danger’ at a house in 33rd Avenue South, Burnsville, shortly after 2.30am.
A shelter-in-place alert was sent to phones in the area 15 miles south of the city center and a third police officer was shot and injured before the gunman killed himself.
Minnesota state governor Tim Walz has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff starting from sunrise tomorrow, and the killings have appalled police departments across the state.
‘We are heartbroken. Our law enforcement community is heartbroken,’ tweeted The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association.
‘We’re just devastated at the horrific loss. These heroes leave behind loved ones and a community who will forever remember their bravery and dedication keeping Minnesotans safe.’
Dozens of heavily armed police officers descended on the street and a SWAT vehicle was seen with multiple bullet holes on its windshield.
A barricade situation developed amid fears that hostages were being held inside the home and the gunman is thought to have killed himself shortly before 6am.
Dozens of heavily armed officers descended on the street in Burnsville after the shooting in the early hours of Sunday morning
Officers had been called to a report of a ‘family in danger’ at a house in 33rd Avenue South, around 15 miles south of Minneapolis city center
Authorities in the state are expected told a press conference shortly
‘While responding to a call of a family in danger, two police officers and one firefighter lost their lives, and other officers were injured,’ the governor tweeted.
‘We must never take for granted the bravery and sacrifices our police officers and first responders make every day. My heart is with their families today and the entire State of Minnesota stands with Burnsville.’
Rep. Jim Nash tweeted: ‘My heart is heavy for the families of these officers, the community of Burnsville, and for our country because this headline is not unique.’
‘Learned from police this morning that three officers have been shot in Burnsville,’ Sen. Amy Klobuchar added.
‘They were doing their jobs. They were protecting our community.’
Police departments from across the city and the state dispatched vehicles as a show of support to the Hennepin Healthcare Hospital in downtown Minneapolis where the injured officer is thought to have been taken.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara asked that people ‘keep Burnsville Police in your prayers.’