Police shoot 1 suspect, search for 2nd in a massive manhunt after officer is ambushed, shot

Suburban police officer shot, killed in Minn.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Police shot and killed one man in a massive manhunt Saturday that followed the killing of a suburban police officer as he was sitting in his patrol car. A second suspect remained on the loose.

St. Paul police spokesman Paul Schnell said more than a dozen agencies and over 100 officers were involved in the search. The events unfolded after a Maplewood police officer was shot while responding to an early-morning carjacking that turned into an ambush.

The carjacking victim said one and possibly both of the men were armed when authorities arrived on the scene, which is near two cities’ border.

“The Maplewood police officer was checking the area for the subject and when he gets there, the preliminary indication is he is ambushed by one of the two subjects and shot,” Schnell said.

Schnell said the officer was taken to Regions Hospital, where he died. His name was not released pending notification of family.

The area where the shootings occurred is a middle class, blue-collar neighborhood dotted with small storefronts and well-established older homes.

The shooting prompted a massive manhunt with officers brandishing automatic rifles and a show of force along a large area east of Lake Phalen as police helicopters circled overhead.

“During the course of that (manhunt), one man, one of the two suspects, came out of a somewhat wooded area and basically began to attack the officer,” Schnell said. “The suspect was shot and fatally wounded.”

Witnesses told WCCO-AM that the officer fired multiple shots, but Schnell had no further details on the incident beyond the officer firing a weapon.

Schnell declined to say whether police believe the other suspect is still in the area, saying they’re looking at “different targets for investigative purposes.”

According to the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association, the officer killed was the 17th to die in the line of duty in the state since 2000.

Associated Press Writer Colin Fly in Milwaukee contributed to this report.