Minneapolis police fatally shoot man after overnight standoff
Updated: 8:30 p.m.
Minneapolis police say officers fatally shot a man Thursday morning following a lengthy standoff.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the shooting that happened at about 4:30 a.m. near 21st Avenue South and Franklin Avenue.
The police department released redacted incident reports Thursday night identifying the man who died as 20-year-old Andrew Tekle Sundberg, and saying he was a resident of the apartment building where the standoff and shooting happened.
Organizers of a candlelight vigil held Thursday night near the scene of the shooting also identified the man who died as Sundberg, and said he was experiencing a mental health crisis during the standoff.
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According to the BCA, two Minneapolis police officers fired their rifles.
Information released by the police department named officers Aaron Pearson and Zachary Seraphine as involved in the incident.
The standoff started at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday after a report of shots fired inside an apartment building on the 900 block of 21st Avenue South, a couple blocks east of Cedar Avenue and just south of Interstate 94.
In a news conference broadcast by KARE 11, police spokesperson Garrett Parten said the initial 911 call on Wednesday night was from a woman with two young children, who reported someone was firing a gun into their apartment, through the walls.
Responding officers encountered more gunfire as they arrived at the scene and evacuated the woman and her children, as well as other people in the building.
Police began negotiating with a man in a third-floor apartment.
"These negotiation attempts included identifying and calling the man's phone, bringing his parents to the scene, providing communications from his parents in the form of phone calls, voicemails and video messages. And officers also attempted numerous times, using loudspeakers, to instruct the male to exit the apartment with his hands up," Parten said.
After about six hours of trying to negotiate with the man, he was shot by police and later died at a hospital. Police have not said what prompted officers to fire at the man.
"This is not the outcome we had hoped for or desired," Parten said at the news conference.
Police said no one else was injured.
The BCA was at the scene on Thursday morning, along with police.
26-year-old Abdi Abdi was one of several people outside the police perimeter looking in on Thursday morning. He said he was a friend of the man who died, and he said he had been concerned about his friend after recent conversations.
“I've seen him a couple times, you know, and I could tell he wasn't there completely mentally," Abdi said. "Mental health is a real thing. People take it as a joke, but it's really real. ... I never thought it would come to this, though."
Abdi also said he was confused about why the lengthy standoff ended with his friend dead.
Shatona Williams lives next to the building where the shooting happened. She says she could hear some of the exchanges between a man and officers during the hours-long standoff. Williams says the man loudly declared that he didn't do anything and that someone was lying about him.
"I mean, it was clear that they [police] were going to have to go in there and get him out,” she said. “But I don't think he should have lost his life."
Williams said police should have tried using tear gas or other less lethal ways to get the man to come out of the building.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, in a series of tweets, said “this is not the outcome anyone wanted. Any loss of life is tragic, and my deepest condolences go out to the family of the individual involved.”
“I also want to express my gratitude to the City staff, including MPD officers and crisis negotiators, who worked diligently throughout the night alongside the individual’s family members,” Frey continued. “All were working together to try and reach a peaceful resolution amid dangerous circumstances while keeping nearby residents safe. The City will continue working to share as much information as possible in these early hours and has turned the investigation over to the BCA.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as we gather more information; check back for updates.