Two officer-involved shootings shake St. Paul Police Dept.

St. Paul Assistant Police Chief Robert Thomasser
St. Paul Assistant Police Chief Robert Thomasser spoke to reporters Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, about two fatal officer-involved shootings that occurred the previous day.
MPR photo/Rupa Shenoy

Assistant Police Chief Robert Thomasser said his department has been shaken by two fatal officer-involved shootings Tuesday.

The first shooting came in the afternoon as St. Paul officers assisted with a Minneapolis narcotics investigation. Thomasser says a man attempted to ram officers with his car and they defended themselves, firing at the driver. Victor Gaddy, 41, was shot several times and died at the scene.

Later in the day officers Daniel King and Brian Wanschura responded to a theft of a shotgun and a bow and arrows from a home. Thomasser said they saw a man in a nearby parking lot with what appeared to be a long gun.

"As the officers pulled into the parking lot, what I can tell you is we believe this: the suspect engaged the officers while they were still in their car. At that point they exchanged gunfire with the suspect and led to his fatal shooting," Thomasser said.

King, 11-year veteran of the department, was shot and is recovering. Thomasser identified the suspect as Chue Xiong, 22, of St Paul.

"We had two incidents that are well beyond what we would call ordinary," Thomasser said. "But they're incidents that our department will fight through, and we'll recover from."

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