Police say gun 'forensically tied' to Franklin shooting

Minneapolis police say they've recovered a stolen gun they believe to be linked to a man shot to death by police in a south Minneapolis home in May.

• Previously: Autopsy report says Franklin was shot 10 times

Police say a homeowner found the gun on his property in October, stuffed inside a sock, near the spot where Terrance Franklin initially fled from police, and about four blocks from where Franklin died. It was reported stolen in a burglary the day before Franklin was killed.

Franklin was being pursued by police in connection with an unidentified burglary when he broke into an Uptown home and tried to hide from Minneapolis officers. He was unarmed.

A struggle ensued in the home's basement, and police say Franklin grabbed a police weapon and shot and wounded two officers at the scene before being shot 10 times by police. He died at the scene.

Another man, Ivan Romero Olivares, died shortly afterward, when a motorcycle he was driving hit a squad car on the way to the scene of the Franklin shooting.

Here's the police department's sequence of events:

• May 9, 2013. There's a burglary of dwelling at 427 Taylor St. NE. The homeowner reports a television and handgun were stolen.

• May 10, 2013. Terrance Franklin dumps a vehicle on the 500 block of West 28th Street in Minneapolis. Five blocks away, he breaks into a home and takes a gun from a Minneapolis police officer during a struggle, and severely wounds two officers before he is shot and killed.

• Oct. 28, 2013. A homeowner at 524 28th St. W. finds a sock with a 9 mm handgun inside of it, wedged between his home's foundation and back porch. The homeowner called police, who recovered the sock and gun. The serial number on the gun matches the number of the gun stolen from 427 Taylor Street NE on May 9.

• Oct. 29, 2013. Minneapolis Police Department Crime Lab forensic scientists swab the handgun, magazine and live cartridges for possible DNA evidence and latent fingerprints.

• Oct. 30, 2013. Minneapolis police take the DNA swabs, sock, and handgun to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for DNA analysis, a common practice.

• March 4, 2014. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension informs the Minneapolis Police Department that Terrance Franklin's DNA profile was found on the sock.

Deputy chief Kris Arneson told reporters the discovery of the gun had no bearing on the investigation into the officer-involved shooting, but said the police department is following up on its commitment to release any new information on the case to the public.

"We said we wanted to be transparent," Arneson said. "Any time we have a case like this, the public is interested in it....Our officers are interested in it. And so we want to put out as much information as we can, when we have it, when it's appropriate."

But Michael Padden, attorney for the Franklin family, said the information on the gun is irrelevant and wouldn't be admissible in court.

"This police department from the beginning has been trying to disparage this young man and disparage his family," Padden said.

He said the family will file a lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis, Police Chief Janee Harteau and the officers involved in the next 30 days.