Man shot, wounded after standoff with police at Woodbury shopping center
Updated: 3:21 p.m.
Woodbury police say a man was shot and wounded by officers outside a Target store on Monday morning, after a standoff that prompted a shelter-in-place alert for the area.
The man, about 50 years old, was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul but there was no immediate word on his condition. There were no reports of other injuries. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating.
The incident happened in the parking lot of the Target store off Valley Creek Road, just east of Interstate 494.
The shelter-in-place order for the Valley Creek Plaza shopping center was lifted around midday.
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According to an account from Woodbury police:
Officers responded to the shopping center on a report of an unoccupied vehicle with stolen license plates.
“While officers were investigating, the suspect returned to the vehicle and fought with the officers when they attempted to arrest him. The officers saw the suspect had a handgun and disengaged,” police reported in a news release.
The man then barricaded himself in the vehicle.
“Officers called for the SWAT team, attempted to negotiate, and deployed less than lethal options with the suspect for an extended period of time, but he would not comply. He later exited the vehicle, brandished a handgun, and pointed it in the direction of responding officers, who then fired,” police said.
A Woodbury police officer and a Washington County sheriff’s deputy were placed on standard administrative leave after the incident.
The Minnesota BCA said just after noon that it was responding to a “use of force incident” in Woodbury but didn’t offer further details.
Shoppers were kept inside the Target store while the standoff was underway. Jim Marks of Woodbury said he went to the store just after 9:45 a.m. to buy some shoelaces. He saw the commotion, but didn’t know what was happening.
“I thought it was a medical emergency-type deal, that’s what I thought,” he said. “As soon as I got in, they had two officers come by with with AR-15s so I knew it wasn’t a good deal then.”
Marks and other shoppers were let out of the store around noon, but at least some were told they wouldn’t be able to get their cars several hours as the investigation continued.
The South Washington County school district, which includes Woodbury, issued a statement saying that all its schools “are safe and there is no threat to students or staff at this time.”
“We are in constant communication with authorities to ensure safety at all times at all of our buildings,” the district said.