Police: Suspect killed himself after west metro manhunt
Updated: 4:00 p.m. | Posted: 5:45 a.m.
The man who led west metro police on a day long manhunt Tuesday after firing shots at officers killed himself inside a home in Jordan, Minn.
David Michael Winters died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound and was dead when officers entered the home, Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
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Stanek said Winters, who was found dead at about 1:15 a.m., had a violent criminal past and was prohibited from possessing a gun.
Winters was most recently charged with illegally possessing a firearm, and was an admitted member of a motorcycle gang, according to Stanek.
"We're going to work hard and try to find out where Winters got this gun," Stanek said. "We want to know how a prohibited person came into possession of a firearm that he should not have had any legal right to it."
The incident began at about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, when St. Louis Park police responded to a report of a suspicious person with a gun outside a business in the 6500 block of Cambridge Drive.
Police say they found a man later identified as Winters armed with a shotgun sitting in a car. Shots were fired, but no officers were injured.
The search for Winters led heavily armed officers to surround the Byerly's on Park Center Boulevard in St. Louis Park.
The store was placed on lockdown by SWAT officers and customers evacuated, but Winters was not found in the store.
While someone matching Winters' description was seen entering the grocery, Stanek said Wednesday afternoon there is no evidence that Winters was ever in the store.
At about 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, reports of a bullet-ridden car led police to Edina where officials connected the vehicle to the earlier shootout.
U.S. 169 northbound at Minnesota Highway 62 in Edina was closed briefly because of a reported shooting that authorities said was related.
At about 1:30 p.m., police were notified that Winters was headed to Jordan.
Police found Winters at a home in the 500 block of Syndicate Street and surrounded the residence.
A timeline of events released by Stanek showed that officers talked to Winters on his cell phone while the home was surrounded and that negotiations continued "for some time" as officers urged Winters to surrender peacefully.
MPR News reporters Tim Nelson and Riham Feshir contributed to this report.
