Officer wounded in Roseville shootout released from hospital
Updated: April 9, 4:50 p.m.
Roseville police officer Ryan Duxbury, who suffered a gunshot wound to his face during a shootout with a suspect earlier in the week, was released from the hospital Saturday afternoon, the Roseville Police Department confirmed. He had surgery Friday afternoon to have a bullet removed from his neck.
Authorities say Jesse Werling, 53, fired about 100 rounds at homes near Lake Owasso on Tuesday evening and also fired on responding officers before being fatally shot by police.
Duxbury “continues to improve each day” but has a long road to a full recovery, Roseville Police Chief Erika Scheider said in a previous statement Friday. The chief added the shooting has taken a toll on the entire department.
Werling had allegedly stolen a hunting rifle from his mother in Wisconsin about a month ago.
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The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said Thursday that investigators recovered a .22 caliber scoped lever-action rifle from the area where two Roseville officers fatally shot Werling.
On March 9, Werling’s mother called police to report that her son had stolen a similar firearm from her home in North Hudson, Wisconsin. It’s not clear if this is the same weapon that the BCA recovered from the shooting scene.
The mother said that Werling had bipolar disorder, suffered from PTSD, and was living in Roseville. A physician at the former St. Joseph’s hospital in St. Paul diagnosed Werling in 2019 with severe bipolar disorder with psychotic features, according to court documents.
A judge’s order for a six-month civil commitment said Werling had engaged in dangerous behavior including jumping out of a moving car when his father tried to take him to the hospital, hurling projectiles at emergency responders who were helping another person, allegedly threatening neighbors and exposing himself to children.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office had sought a civil commitment order in 2018.
In 2015, Werling pleaded no contest to charges in Wisconsin of disorderly conduct and domestic abuse. According to the criminal complaint, Werling had called his ex-wife in the middle of the night threatening to take her to the “underworld.”
A year ago, one of Werling’s former neighbors in Stillwater filed for a restraining order. She said Werling had blocked her husband from driving down the street and showed up at their door with food on his face and one of the family’s jump ropes in his hand.
Werling was charged with felony property damage after allegedly trying to kick down their door.
The BCA identified the officers who shot Werling as Boua Chang and Bryan Anderson.
Chief Scheider said Wednesday that because Werling was hiding, it took officers more than an hour after that first 911 call to find him.
As is standard practice — both of the officers are on administrative leave as the BCA continues its investigation of the shooting.