BURNSVILLE, Minn. (AP) — A desperate call for help from a home in a Minneapolis suburb turned deadly for two police officers and a paramedic, who were shot and killed at the scene, according to officials.
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The neighborhood in Burnsville was ringed with police cars that kept the press and public away from the scene where the shootings took place early Sunday. The three deaths were confirmed by the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association.
The Pioneer Press cited a “person with knowledge of the situation” as saying the assailant died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The initial call came in around 5 a.m., and a shelter-in-place order was transmitted to residents around 5:30 a.m., witnesses said. The order remained in place for about five hours.
“We are heartbroken. Our law enforcement community is heartbroken. We’re just devastated at the horrific loss,” Brian Peters, executive director of the association that represents public safety professionals in the state, said in a statement.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a post on Facebook that in addition to those killed, other officers were injured.
The slain police officers were with the Burnsville department, and the paramedic worked for the city’s fire department.
No other details were immediately released about what led up to the shooting in a tree-lined neighborhood of modest split-level homes on large unfenced lots.
In its aftermath, the street was lined with SWAT vehicles, police cars, firefighters and ambulances. A police armored vehicle had bullet damage to its windshield, but there was no confirmation on whether that was the result of the incident.
Burnsville police, fire and city officials, including the mayor, didn’t immediately return phone or email messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Burnsville, a city of around 64,000, is about 15 miles south of downtown Minneapolis.
