Alleged Straw Buyer of Firearms Used in Burnsville Murders Indicted

(KNSI) – A Burnsville woman has been indicted for buying the gun a suspect used to kill two police officers and a firefighter paramedic February 18th.

According to the charges, 35-year-old Ashley Anne Dyrdahl and Shannon Gooden had been going back and forth between September of 2023 and January 25th, 2024, to hatch a plan to have Dyrdahl buy guns and give them to Gooden. Gooden is a convicted felon and is not allowed to possess firearms or ammunition.

United States Attorney Andrew Luger says both parties understood exactly what they were doing. “He would pick out specific weapons, and she would buy them in violation of federal law, placing powerful weapons in the hands of a violent convicted felon.”

In 2016, Dyrdahl and Gooden became involved in a relationship, and as early as 2019, she knew that Gooden had been convicted of a felony. In 2020, Dyrdahl filed a letter in support of Gooden’s petition to restore his firearm rights, in which she acknowledged his conviction and crime.

Dakota County Attorney Kathryn Keena spoke during a Thursday press conference. She focused on the petition and how Gooden and Dyrdahl said a restoration of his Second Amendment rights was necessary for Gooden to completely protect his family.

Keena lamented that giving Gooden guns again, illegally, ended up putting his seven children in extreme danger and resulted in the deaths of three first responders. “Ms. Dyrdahl is the reason why he had an arsenal of firearms in his possession that ultimately resulted in the murder of three of Dakota County’s finest and the injury of another as they selflessly acted to protect those children.”

Despite knowing of Gooden’s felony status, prosecutors say Dyrdahl bought five firearms from two different federal firearms licensees “at Gooden’s direction and knowingly and intentionally transferred the firearms to Gooden.”

Text messages between the two allegedly showed Gooden telling her exactly what guns to buy. Dyrdahl placed the orders and is accused of lying on ATF Forms, saying she was the buyer and was not planning to transfer it to a felon.

During a text exchange between Dyrdahl and Gooden discussing background checks and other questions from firearm sellers, Dyrdahl told Gooden, “We just gotta make sure we’re smart about all this, ya know?”

Among the firearms Dyrdahl allegedly bought and transferred to Gooden at Gooden’s direction were three semiautomatic AR-15-style firearm lower-receivers. The indictment also says one of them was a Franklin Armory FAI-15 .300 caliber semiautomatic firearm equipped with a binary trigger. “A firearm with a binary trigger fires one shot when the trigger is pulled, and another when the trigger is released, effectively doubling the rate of fire. Dyrdahl also purchased a .300 caliber barrel for the lower receiver. Dyrdahl knew that Gooden was loading the semiautomatic AR-15-style firearms with .300 Blackout ammunition, which is a heavier load ammunition that has an increased potential for lethality.”

February 10th, 2024, court papers say Gooden went to a shooting range. While at the range, he and Dyrdahl had the following text exchange:

Gooden: I love my 300 blackout

Dyrdahl: Haha good baby

Dyrdahl: That’s your 300 blackout?

Dyrdahl: Wow

Dyrdahl: [Smiling heart emoji]

Gooden: It’s nasty bae

Dyrdahl: hell yeah …

Gooden: Thanks for making me so happy

Dyrdahl: You’re welcome baby thank you for making me so happy to [sic].

According to the indictment, on February 18th, Gooden used two AR-15-style semiautomatic firearms Dyrdahl provided to him – the firearm equipped with a binary trigger and loaded with .300 Blackout ammunition and a Palmetto State Armory model PA-15 firearm – in the ambush that killed officer Paul Elmstrand, officer Matthew Ruge and firefighter paramedic Adam Finseth. Another officer, Sergeant Adam Medlicott, was also injured.

“During the attack, Gooden fired more than 100 rounds of ammunition from the AR-15-style firearms. After the attack, law enforcement officers found in Dyrdahl and Gooden’s bedroom a stockpile of fully loaded magazines as well as boxes with hundreds of additional rounds of ammunition,” according to the indictment.

Dyrdahl is charged with one count of conspiracy, five counts of straw purchasing, and five counts of making false statements during the purchase of a firearm. She will make her initial appearance in U.S. District Court today.

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