Search Warrants Reveal More Details Surrounding Deadly Burnsville Shooting

(KNSI) — The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is releasing more details about the call that brought Burnsville Police and the SWAT team to a home and left three first responders dead.

According to the search warrant, police were called to the Burnsville home Shannon Cortez Gooden was renting at about 1:50 a.m. February 18th amid allegations of a sexual assault. Officers made contact with Gooden and the unspecified caller. There were seven children between the ages of two and 15 at home. Gooden then barricaded himself in a bedroom. Officers worked to get Gooden to surrender, but “he did not cooperate.” Several hours later, Gooden opened fire on officers with “what is believed to be multiple different firearms.”

Killed were 27-year-old officer Paul Elmstrand, 40-year-old firefighter paramedic Adam Finseth, and 27-year-old officer Matthew Ruge.

Police fired back, and Gooden holed up in a bedroom where he was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

None of the kids were hurt.

The mother of three of those children, Noemi Torres, told investigators she was in contact with Gooden in the days leading up to the shooting and was exchanging messages with Gooden’s current girlfriend at the time of the shooting. That woman notified her of what happened.

Gooden was not allowed to have guns due to a previous felony conviction several years ago. After completing probation, the violation was reduced to a gross misdemeanor, and Gooden’s attorney petitioned the court to restore his gun rights, which a judge denied. How Gooden got the guns used in the shooting is part of the investigation. Being a straw buyer, or someone who purchases guns and gives them to someone not allowed to possess them is a felony.

A public memorial for Elmstrand, Finseth and Ruge is Wednesday, February 28th, at Grace Church in Eden Prairie.

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