The names of two Woodbury police officers involved in a shooting last weekend have been released.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Friday said Officer Brian Cline fired his gun during the incident late Sunday morning in the 7000 block of Highpoint Road in Woodbury. Cline is a 16-year veteran of the Woodbury Department of Public Safety, said Cmdr. John Altman.

A second officer, Brett Roddy, used a gun to fire beanbag rounds at the man, who has not yet been identified. Roddy, a 6 1/2-year veteran of the Woodbury police department, has worked in law enforcement for 11 years.

Both officers are on standard administrative leave, BCA officials said.

Cline and Roddy shot and injured the man about 11:40 a.m. Sunday after the man called 911 saying he wanted police to “come kill me,” according to a news release from the Woodbury Public Safety Department. The man told dispatchers he was “having homicidal feelings” and that he “wanted to die,” the release stated.

Officers arrived less than 10 minutes later and found the man in the street. He “took a shooting stance directed toward officers,” the release said.

Police fired both lethal and non-lethal munitions at the man. He was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where he was listed in stable condition on Sunday, according to the news release.

The incident remains under investigation by the BCA.

When the investigation is complete, BCA officials will present the agency’s findings without recommendation to the Washington County Attorney’s Office for review, officials said Friday.

Demilo Martin is both a victim and a suspect in connection to different incidents involving guns in Minneapolis, according to Hennepin County authorities.

Martin, 28, of Minneapolis, has been charged with one count of “felon in possession,” the result of a gunfight on June 15 when at least 50 shots were fired.

Almost a month after that shootout, Martin was one of two people who suffered non-critical injuries in another shootout: Martin was injured about 2 a.m. July 13 at the Crave American Kitchen & Sushi Bar, located on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, when someone fired shots on the bar’s rooftop restaurant.

“Mr. Martin is well-known to police,” Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman stated in a press release issued on Friday. “They did a fine job investigating the case and if we are successful in prosecuting him, he should be sentenced to a mandatory five years in prison. In the meantime, Minneapolis police can continue investigating him for other violent crimes as well as identify a suspect in the restaurant shooting.”

According to the criminal complaint, just before 5 a.m. June 15, a shootout occurred in and around 2303 Kennedy St. N.E.  in Minneapolis. Police recovered 51 discharged cartridge casings and identified bullet holes in several vehicles and multiple buildings. They concluded it was a shootout between several rival street gangs.

As part of the investigation, police recovered surveillance video of Martin approaching the building and removing a black semi-automatic pistol from his pants pocket. Martin then ejected the magazine and reinserted it and before entering the building.

Police also know Martin is a member of the Young N’ Thuggin’ street gang and has been involved in, or witness to, several recent gang-related shootings, the complaint states. On Tuesday, officers encountered Martin and showed him photos from the video recovered at the shootout. Martin admitted he was the person in the photo and that he had a gun when he entered the building.

Court records show that Martin was convicted two previous times for prohibited person in possession of a firearm. He has been prohibited from possessing a gun since a juvenile adjudication in 2005 for criminal sexual conduct, according to the criminal complaint.

On Monday, Martin is expected to make his first court appearance in connection to the felon in possession charge.

A porch light remained on Saturday afternoon at the Frogtown home where St. Paul police said they made a “gut-wrenching discovery” the night before: A woman “gravely injured,” her two young children found nearby but unharmed.

Officers were called to check on the woman after she failed to pick up her third child from day care.

Police made a quick arrest Saturday in connection with the woman’s death — the city’s 13th homicide of the year. Shakee Shabazz Miller-Brantley of Minneapolis, who is believed to be known to the woman, was being held on suspicion of homicide, said Steve Linders, St. Paul police spokesman.

Police received the initial call about 9:25 p.m. Friday. After no one answered the door at the home in the 500 block of Charles Avenue, they entered and saw blood in the house. Police then found the woman, who was pronounced dead by St. Paul Fire Department medics.

The two children — a boy and girl — were found in a separate room.

Linders said the three children range in age between 4 and 12 years old.

“For our officers who came upon the scene,” Linders said, “on one hand, they were mortified on what they found. On the other hand, they were thankful that no harm — no physical harm — was done to the kids. It touched the officers and moved them, and they were thankful they could be there for the kids.”

The three children are with someone who is close to the family, Linders said.

Miller-Brantley was arrested without incident about 10 a.m. Saturday in the 300 block of Arundel Street, about a half-mile from the woman’s home.

Miller-Brantley, who turns 28 on Sunday, has previous convictions for domestic assault, aggravated robbery and assaulting an officer, all in Hennepin County, according to state court records.

John Tolo, who lives a half-block down the street from the deceased woman, said she kept to herself. She has had verbal altercations with a neighbor in the past, he said, but “it’s been super quiet over there recently.”

Tolo is the executive director of the neighborhood nonprofit SafeCity Project, which connects residents with initiatives and events through outreach. Volunteers have reached out to the woman several times in the past, asking if she needed anything, but she declined, Tolo said.

“We heard there was some domestic stuff — some issues — going on and so we stopped by and talked to her,” Tolo said. “She wasn’t interested.”

The Ramsey County medical examiner’s office is expected to determine a cause of death after an autopsy. The woman’s name will be released after positive identification is made, police said.

Moments after St. Croix County dispatchers received a call about a fallen stop sign in Stanton Township, emergency officials learned an Oakdale man drove into the same intersection and was struck by a motorcyclist who had the right of way.

The motorcyclist, the Oakdale man and his passenger all were killed, according to the St. Croix County sheriff’s office.

The crash happened about 7:10 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Wisconsin 64 and County Road T, east of New Richmond.

Cody Lynn Cook-Terhurne, 34, of Somerset, Wis., was heading west on Wisconsin 64 and Thomas John Plasch, 55, of Oakdale, was heading north on County Road T when they collided. Cook-Terhurne was on a 2009 Harley-Davidson and Plasch was driving a 2008 Lincoln passenger car. Miriam Rosal Espinosa, 46, was the passenger in the Lincoln.

All three were pronounced dead at the scene by the St. Croix County Medical Examiner.

Traffic on Wisconsin 64 has the right of way, according to the sheriff’s office, “however, the St. Croix County Emergency Communications Center had received a call moments before the crash reporting that the stop sign for northbound traffic on CTH T had been knocked down.”

The sheriff’s office will be working to verify the report about the stop sign and any other factors in the crash.

The three fatalities bring St. Croix County’s 2019 traffic toll to eight.

ONAMIA, Minn. — Officials are investigating after an angler was found dead in his boat on the shore of Mille Lacs Lake.

The Mille Lacs County sheriff’s office says 59-year-old Daniel Gable of Hastings was reported missing by his wife around 11 p.m. Friday. She told deputies he had gone fishing on the big lake in east-central Minnesota but hadn’t checked in with family or friends or checked out of his hotel.

Deputies found Gable’s truck and boat trailer parked at a landing on the west side of the lake near Onamia. A search by boat and by helicopter was hampered by fog and high waves. Searchers found his body Saturday morning inside his boat, where it had washed ashore near the landing.

An autopsy was planned to determine the cause of death.

LUVERNE, Minn. — An Aitkin man was arrested Wednesday near Luverne after nearly 100 pounds of marijuana and marijuana products were allegedly discovered in his vehicle.

Ronald K. Huebner, 65, faces felony second-degree drug possession and fourth-degree DWI, a misdemeanor. The felony-level offense is punishable up to 25 years imprisonment, a $500,000 fine or both.

According to the criminal complaint filed this week in Rock County District Court, a Rock County deputy stopped Huebner Wednesday along Interstate 90 near Luverne for crossing the center and fog lines. Upon contact, the deputy noted the odor of raw marijuana and signs of impairment displayed by Huebner. The deputy observed a couple of roaches near the cup holder ashtray. Approximately 6 grams of marijuana in a cooler reportedly purchased from a dispensary in Las Vegas were discovered in the cab of the vehicle.

A more thorough search of the vehicle at the law enforcement center revealed eight large duffel bags, a blue and white tote and two brown boxes containing marijuana and marijuana products weighing approximately 98 pounds.

Huebner’s conditional bail was scheduled at $20,000 and his unconditional at $50,000.

Police say a man has died after he unexpectedly darted into traffic near a busy intersection in Apple Valley and was struck by a vehicle.

Thirty-seven-year-old Ian Micheal Rosch died early Friday at Hennepin County Medical Center. He was struck around 7 p.m. Thursday near the intersection of Cedar Avenue and County Road 42. First responders arrived to find him severely injured and unresponsive in the northbound lane.

Police say Rosch was in the center median on Cedar, about 100 yards north of the intersection, when he attempted to cross Cedar and continue east. Police say that left the driver little time to respond. The vehicle’s driver and passenger were not injured.

The crash remains under investigation.

Law enforcement leaders announced Monday that, starting in August, they will host three public hearings to discuss the best way to handle shootings by police.

A 16-member group, co-chaired by Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington and Attorney General Keith Ellison, will meet Aug. 17, Sept. 28 and Oct. 17 to hear comments from all sides, including the public.

“We cannot simply work on this issue in the wake of a heart-rending, emotional, critical issue,” Ellison said at a press conference in St. Paul. “We’ve got to talk about these things when the waters have calmed a little bit and we can have a constructive community dialogue. And that is what we’re attempting to do.”

Each hearing will have three to four panels, with each panel consisting of about four witnesses who will provide testimony relevant to the topic. Participants will represent the community, academia, subject matter experts, law enforcement and prosecutors.

“The framework that we’re going to operate out of is designed to ensure that all voices … are heard in developing recommendations,” Harrington said.

Those recommendations, which are slated to be compiled by February 2020, could include state or local policy changes, updates to procedures, legislative initiatives, training, officer wellness, community healing or recognition of best practices utilized by law enforcement agencies, he said.

What do the co-chairs hope these recommendations will be?

“I don’t know,” Ellison said. “We’re going to find out. The conversations we will have will yield the prescriptions that we will offer.”

REBUILDING TRUST

There have been 15 officer-involved shootings in Minnesota this year, of which 10 were fatal, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

There were 13 such fatalities last year, which was tied with 2015 and 2016 as the highest numbers during the 41 years that Minnesota has been collecting the information, according to BCA statistics.

The BCA says the deaths include those killed by officer gunfire, along with people who die by suicide.

One of those deaths was Philando Castile, who was shot by police in Falcon Heights in 2016. His death sparked an outcry from the community and forced law enforcement and legislators to take a closer look at how police-involved shootings should be handled.

Castile’s uncle, Clarence Castile, is one of the group’s members.

“When I was asked by Commissioner Harrington to be a part of this group, I was really excited,” he said. “The community and cops working together rebuilding trust and legitimacy, that’s, you know, what we have to do.”

PAST COUNCIL WAS CRITICIZED

Castile’s hopeful comments mingled with promises from others on the panel to hammer out some helpful recommendations through the public sessions.

But if past attempts at community conversations are any indication, the positive, cooperative vibe at the press conference may not last.

Under Gov. Mark Dayton, the Governor’s Council on Law Enforcement and Community Relations was formed with 15 voting members, split fairly evenly between law enforcement agencies and community groups such as Black Lives Matter and the Minnesota Youth Council following the fatal police shootings of Castile and of Jamar Clark in Minneapolis.

The council was immediately criticized by some groups who said it didn’t talk enough about police accountability, had the wrong community groups on it, and was difficult for the public to find anything out about the meetings.

As for having the “right” groups at the table, Harrington and Ellison said since this was a conversation for the entire state, it would be impossible to have all groups as members, but encouraged them to show up and share during the public comment.

Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, called the Dayton council “a complete waste of our time” and said she has not decided yet if anyone from her group will attend Ellison’s sessions.

“This new working group is very police heavy,” she said. “I don’t think they are going to engage with the community in any meaningful way.”

The NAACP, another group critical of Dayton’s council, seemed willing to try again.

“We support this courageous work and are really grateful and thankful to see this flourish,” said Anika Bowie, vice president of the Minneapolis chapter.

BCA WILL PARTICIPATE

Harrington hinted about having these public meetings in May following the sentencing of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor to 12½ years in prison for the fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk.

The trial renewed criticism of the BCA’s handling of officer-involved shooting investigations, with some groups, such as Gross’ accusing the BCA of going easy on officers.

Harrington, who has broad oversight of the BCA, said he will be representing the bureau and will be inviting its director to participate in the conversations to explain how current investigations are being done, including the guidelines for releasing police body camera footage from shootings.

“We’re going to be thorough,” Ellison said.

Locations and additional details for the meetings will be announced later and posted at dps.mn.gov.

WHO’S ON THE PANEL?

Ellison and Harrington co-chair the panel which consists of the following members:

• Medaria Arradondo, Minneapolis Police Chief
• Clarence Castile, community advocate
• Elizer Darris, American Civic Liberties Union-Minnesota
• Matt Gottschalk, Corcoran Director of Public Safety, representing Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association
• State Rep. Hodan Hassan, DFL-Minneapolis
• State Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria
• Hennepin County Judge Mark Kappelhoff
• Brittany Lewis, University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs
• Brian Peters, Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association executive director
• Mark Rubin, St. Louis County Attorney, representing Minnesota County Attorneys Association
• Chanda Smith Baker, Minneapolis Foundation
• Kevin Torgerson, Olmsted County Sheriff, representing Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association
• Artika R. Tyner, University of St. Thomas School of Law, Center on Race, Leadership and Social Justice
• Tribal law enforcement representative to be determined (the appointee withdrew due to schedule conflicts)

A bloody trail led police to the basement staircase of a St. Paul home as they looked for a woman who never showed up to pick up her child from day care Friday evening.

They found Jessica Williams, a 27-year-old mother, lying motionless at the bottom of the stairs with a shirt covering her face.

Williams was carried there, they later learned, by her boyfriend, Shakee Shabazz Miller-Brantley, after he gunned her down in the hallway during an argument in the Frogtown home, court documents say.

The garment was placed over her face so neither he nor her two other children who were home at the time would have to look at her, he reportedly told officers.

Although the 28-year-old initially denied any involvement in her death, Miller-Brantley eventually admitted to shooting Williams, telling police a heated argument and fear for his own safety set him off.

Williams had been “running her mouth” that day and “put him out” for no reason, Miller-Brantley reportedly explained to police. Then she wanted the gun back that she bought for him, threatening to call police or kill him if he failed to turn it over, he told officers.

Williams was holding a bag at the time and Miller-Brantley was worried it contained another gun, he said.

Scared, he pulled out the .22-caliber handgun he had with him and shot Williams five or six times as she backed away from him, he told officers, according to the criminal complaint charging him with intentional second-degree murder in Williams’ death.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office filed it against him Monday morning.

Miller-Brantley told officers “he didn’t want to (shoot her), but she kept talking to him like he was a kid,” the complaint said.

Later adding, “This is the girl if I don’t kill her first she’s gonna kill me …,” according to the charges.

He admitted that he never found a gun inside the bag when he checked it after he shot Williams, the complaint said.

He said he cried after she collapsed on the floor because “he felt bad,” according to the charges.

They found him at his mother’s house in St. Paul along with a .22-caliber handgun in a kitchen drawer and a pair of shoes with what appeared to be blood on the tread. The tread matched footprints left in the trail of blood inside Williams’ house, the complaint said.

After initially telling officers that he hadn’t seen Williams since she broke up with him the day before, Miller-Brantley admitted to the fatal shooting, the complaint said.

He said the couple had been dating since meeting at school about five months ago.

His mother told police her son suffers from schizophrenia and that he hadn’t been taking his medication.

Williams’ sister said Miller-Brantley was mad at her sister for breaking up with him at the time of the shooting.

Police were called to the home on the 500 block of Charles Avenue around 9:30 p.m. Friday after Williams didn’t show up to pick up her child from day care. The provider called the woman’s emergency contact and asked her to pick up the child in Williams’ absence.

The door was locked when the woman arrived at Williams’ house, so she contacted Williams’ two older children and asked them to let her in.

When they came to the door, they said they didn’t know where their mother was, the complaint said. The woman called police when she noticed blood in the kitchen leading toward the basement door.

Police pronounced Williams dead at the scene.

The Ramsey County medical examiner’s office determined she died of blood loss from five to six gunshot wounds to her scalp, neck and upper extremities.

Miller-Brantley has three prior felony convictions, including first-degree aggravated robbery, fourth-degree assault and financial transaction fraud.

He was also convicted of misdemeanor-level domestic assault in 2011.

The three children, who range in age from 4 to 12 years old, are staying with someone close to the family, police said.

None of Williams’ relatives could be reached for comment.

Miller-Brantley’s next court hearing is scheduled for April 2. His bail was set at $1 million.

A triple fatality collision between a Somerset motorcyclist and an Oakdale driver and his passenger last week had nothing to do with a fallen stop sign, St. Croix County authorities said in an updated report.

Thomas John Plasch and passenger Miriam Rosal Espinosa were killed in a collision about 7:10 p.m. Friday with motorcyclist Cody Lynn Cook-Terhurne at the intersection of Wisconsin 64 and County Road T.

Plasch was with Espinosa driving north on County Road T when he came to the intersection. Minutes prior, police had been notified about a downed stop sign. The cause of the downed sign has yet to be determined.

Witnesses said Patsch stopped in his 2008 Lincoln to wait for the intersection to clear despite the downed stop sign. There were “stop ahead” warning signs on the road, which helped alert drivers of the stop despite the missing sign.

Cook-Terhurne had been driving west on Wisconsin 64 at “very high” speeds on a 2009 Harley-Davidson, passing vehicles in the right lane, according to “numerous witnesses.”

A driver called authorities about 10 minutes prior to the crash reporting a motorcycle and operator with the same description as Cook-Terhurne. He was driving on 64 at high speeds and passed the caller’s vehicle on the center line despite oncoming traffic, according to the report.

Medical examiners are in the process of a toxicology report and the incident remains under investigation.

A grand jury indicted a Washington County sheriff’s deputy for manslaughter after he shot a suicidal man in Lake Elmo in 2018, according to a Twin Cities media report.

Deputy Brian Krook will face second-degree manslaughter charges in Washington County District Court, the Star Tribune reported Monday.

Krook shot and killed Benjamin Evans, 23, Lake Elmo, who was holding a handgun when he confronted officers, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Phone messages and emails to Washington County Chief District Judge Douglas Meslow, law enforcement union representatives and attorneys were not answered Monday.

However, Meslow told the Star Tribune earlier Monday that the charges against Krook allege “culpable negligence” that created an unreasonable risk.

Because of prosecutors’ conflict of interest in Washington County, the case was referred to Ramsey County to review for possible charges, according to Dennis Gerhardstein, the spokesman for the Ramsey County attorney’s office.

Gerhardstein would not say what the status of its review was as of Monday.

According to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the sheriff’s department was called shortly after midnight April 12, 2018, about a suicidal man with a gun.

When Evans was found near Lake Elmo Avenue and 34th Street, he told officers he wanted to kill himself. Officers repeatedly told him to drop the gun before Krook shot Evans several times.

Evans was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where he died.

Krook, 31, has been with the sheriff’s office for nine years. After the shooting, Krook was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the BCA.

The BCA reported that a handgun was found near Evans’ body. A non-lethal bean bag shotgun also was recovered, but apparently it had not been fired, the bureau reported.

Body cameras and car-mounted cameras recorded some parts of the incident, but not all of it, according to the BCA.

In two other recent cases, metro area law enforcement officers have been charged in fatal shootings.

Former St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez was charged with manslaughter and reckless discharge of a firearm in the 2016 shooting of motorist Philando Castile during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights.

Yanez was acquitted in 2017.

Former Minneapolis officer Mohamed Noor fatally shot Justine Ruszczyk Damond in 2017.

Noor and another officer were responding to a 911 call about a possible sexual assault behind her Southwest Minneapolis home. Noor was found guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in June and received more than 12 years in prison.

Sarah Horner contributed to this report. 

A 29-year-old Inver Grove Heights man was charged Monday with attempted murder in connection with an apparently random home invasion in which authorities said he assaulted a woman and her young son.

According to the criminal complaint, neither the woman nor her son knew who the man was.

The Dakota County criminal complaint offered this account of the incident, though it didn’t provide any information about where it happened:

Authorities say Semaji Jamal Clemons broke into the Inver Grove Heights home on Friday afternoon and immediately went into the boy’s room and told the boy it was “time to die.”

Clemons grabbed the boy from behind and brought him into another room, where the boy’s mother was, where he repeated “it’s time to die” and punched the woman in the face.

When the boy tried to protect his mother, Clemons punched the boy in the head and face. The boy managed to escape and run to a neighbor, who called 911.

The boy then returned with a box cutter and tried to help his mother. Clemons took the box cutter away and as the boy tried to stop him, stabbed the woman in the back. He sat on the woman, told the boy to look away, and then cut the woman’s throat.

During the assault, Clemons told the woman several times that she was going to die, saying “be ready to die,” and “you’re going to die” and “you’re dying.”

Officers arrived shortly after and found blood all over the floor and heard the woman in a back bedroom crying for help. Clemons walked out of the back bedroom with blood all over his pants and shoes.

Officers found the woman covered in blood with puncture wounds to her back and a deep cut to her throat. She received 10 stitches to her throat.

Clemons was charged Monday in Dakota County District Court with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree burglary and first degree assault.

He remained jailed Monday night in lieu of $1 million bail, or $750,000 without conditions.

The owner of an Inver Grove Heights massage outlet is accused of using the business for prostitution.

Xueyan Wang, 40, of Inver Grove Heights, was charged Monday in Dakota County District Court in Hastings with four felonies — two counts each of second-degree promoting prostitution and second-degree prostitution receiving profit.

Wang was arrested Friday while police were executing a search warrant at the business, which is in the Arbor Pointe strip mall off Concord Boulevard and northeast of Minnesota 55. She remained jailed Monday night in lieu of $750,000 bail, or $350,000 without conditions.

According to a criminal complaint:

In March, Inver Grove police began an investigation into Herb Spa after officers learned of customer reviews on a website that gives information about illegal services at massage businesses. The reviews for Herb Spa began in 2017 and described sexual acts that were performed, the masseuse that performed them and cost.

The city granted Wang a therapeutic massage license for the business in May 2017.

The business had no signage, the front door was locked at all times and customers were required to ring a doorbell to gain entry.

During the investigation, officers stopped two men on two separate occasions after they left Herb Spa. Both men said they had paid women working at the business to perform sexual acts on them. Neither of the women were Wang, the men said.

Police surveillance was conducted on the business and showed that Wang and women working at the business appeared to be living there. Wang made multiple runs to and from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and paid airfare for women to fly from San Francisco and Chicago.

A review of Wang’s bank account showed that she issued checks to purchase several plane tickets, paid for advertising on a website (formerly Backpage.com) and wired money to an account in China from her personal checking account.

During Friday’s search of the business, officers found two women inside who were living in the back of the business. There were no traditional massage tables, and beds were on wood crates on the floor.

One woman said she was from California and had been working at the business since February. She said she paid Wang rent and that Wang kept half the profit she made from services she provided. Wang went shopping to provide groceries and toiletries, the woman said.

Officers also found more than $55,000 — mostly made up of $20 bills — and a notepad that listed different sexual services along with corresponding prices.

Wang was arrested when she walked into the business carrying bags of groceries. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 15.

A man was found dead Tuesday outside the Centennial Lakes Police Department in Circle Pines, according to the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials said they believe he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The man was not a police department employee.

A passerby who found the man’s body outside the police department at 54 North Road went inside the station to inform police about 9 a.m., according to sheriff’s Lt. Dan Douglas.

An ID was found next to the man, but police are unsure if it belonged to him and the medical examiner is working to determine his identity.

The sheriff’s office said the investigation is ongoing.

The Washington County sheriff’s deputy indicted last week on a charge of second-degree manslaughter in connection with the 2018 shooting death of a 23-year-old Lake Elmo man will make his first court appearance on Wednesday afternoon.

Deputy Brian Krook, 31, shot and killed Benjamin W. Evans shortly after midnight on April 12, 2018, according to police reports. Police said Evans was holding a handgun when Krook and other Washington County deputies responded to a 911 call of “a suicidal man with a gun” in Lake Elmo.

Evans was an emergency medical technician and the father of a 3-year-old daughter named Lydia Rose.

His parents said in a statement, “We have waited patiently to understand what happened to Ben, praying for truth and justice. In the meantime, we have been keeping Ben’s memory alive for his 3-year-old daughter. He was an extraordinary young man who loved life, his family, his fellow man and his country.”

On the night he was killed, Evans told officers he wanted to kill himself while “officers made repeated attempts to persuade him to put down the gun,” police said. “At one point, Deputy Krook discharged his firearm, striking Evans multiple times.”

FAMILY ‘IN THE DARK’ ABOUT DETAILS OF DEATH

Attorneys for Evans’ family said Tuesday they remain “in the dark” as to details about Evans’ death and had not yet seen the indictment.

Pete Sandberg and Elham Haddon, attorneys in Rochester who specialize in wrongful-death cases, said they have been retained by Bill Evans and Kim Porter, Evans’ parents. The attorneys previously represented Benjamin Evans in a worker’s compensation case and employment claim.

“The family decided that since he trusted us, they trusted us,” Haddon said.

Bill Evans was a firefighter, and Ben Evans followed in his father’s footsteps, finishing his EMT class before his 18th birthday, his parents said in a statement provided to the Pioneer Press.

“Ben Evans came from a military family and dreamed of a life of service,” the statement said. “After enlisting in the Air Force, a knee injury prevented him from serving his country so he came to Minnesota to serve the community as an EMT firefighter. He cherished the uniform and all the public servants who wore it. His job was to save lives. It is incomprehensible that his life should be taken when he needed a public servant to save him.”

According to his obituary, Ben Evans was “very proud and passionate of being a firefighter and EMT. He enjoyed sports and especially loved playing hockey.” His funeral service was held in Creve Coeur, Mo., where his family lived.

BCA: OFFICERS REPEATEDLY TOLD EVANS TO DROP A GUN

Because of prosecutors’ conflict of interest in Washington County, the case was referred to Ramsey County to review for possible charges, according to the Ramsey County attorney’s office.

Evans’ parents said they were grateful to Ramsey County prosecutors “for their efforts in concluding this investigation.”

On Wednesday, Krook will make his first court appearance before Sherburne County District Court Judge Mary Yunker in Washington County District Court in Stillwater; judges in Washington County recused themselves due to a conflict of interest, officials said.

When Evans was found in April 2018 near Lake Elmo Avenue and 34th Street, he told officers he wanted to kill himself, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Officers repeatedly told him to drop the gun before Krook shot Evans several times, police said.

Body-worn and car-mounted cameras recorded some parts of the incident, but not all of it, according to the BCA.

Krook has been with the sheriff’s office for nine years. After the shooting, Krook was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the BCA. Neither Krook nor a union representative could be reached for comment.

On Monday, Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington and Attorney General Keith Ellison announced they will host three public hearings, beginning in August, to discuss the best way to handle shootings by police. Recommendations, which are slated to be compiled by February 2020, could include state or local policy changes, updates to procedures, legislative initiatives, training, officer wellness, community healing or recognition of best practices utilized by law enforcement agencies.

When Eagan Township got its first police cruiser in 1965, it was a big deal to then-Chief Martin DesLauriers and the community where he grew up.

DesLauriers and his tiny staff of officers often had just a handful of calls a week, driving on the gravel roads in their own cars. But the new Ford station wagon was seen as a sign of progress.

“It was hard to imagine Eagan Township ever buying a car for police,” DesLauriers told the Pioneer Press in a 2015 interview. “So it was nice to have, for sure. We only had one truck for snowplowing.”

Funeral services were held Saturday for DesLauriers, Eagan’s first chief who held the post from 1965 to 1983. DesLauriers died July 13 from complications of a stroke. He was 87.

Before becoming chief, DesLauriers was a township constable, an elected job he landed at 20 in 1951. For many years, police calls went directly to DesLauriers’ house, with his wife, Marie, serving as dispatcher.

“We really were like a big family,” he said. “Every officer had a monitor in his home. If someone went out on a call, probably two or three off-duty officers showed up in their own cars to assist.”

Eagan Township’s police department was formed in June 1965. Richard LeMay and Don Smith were the department’s part-time officers. The annual budget was $23,000.

His daughter Jayne DesLauriers recalled the time when she and her two siblings were riding in a police cruiser with their dad and how he got an urgent call. He “opened the window and put a light on the outside of the car, like the old movies,” she said. “And away we went.”

She said her father came from a large family — he had nine siblings — and grew up on along Yankee Doodle Road, back when Eagan was a rural outpost of 7,000 residents or so. He graduated from Monroe High School in St. Paul.

In 1951, he and Marie married. They adopted and raised three children — son, Paul, and twin daughters, Anne and Jayne. Marie passed away in March 2018.

DesLauriers was “a walking history book of Eagan” who enjoyed telling old stories to family, friends and those he worked with over the years, his daughter said.

In addition to his daughter, Jayne DesLauriers, of Boston, Mass., he is survived by children, Paul DesLauriers, of Osakis, Minn., and daughter Anne of DesLauriers Ely, Minn; four grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren; four sisters and a brother.

NORTHWOOD, N.D. — Sheriff’s officials say an overweight semitrailer loaded with dried beans caused a 113-year-old bridge to collapse in North Dakota.

Grand Forks County sheriff’s officials said the historic bridge over the Goose River near Northwood collapsed Monday afternoon. Photos show the wood and iron span buckling under the weight of the 42-ton semi. The bridge was partly submerged in the water.

The trucking firm’s owner told Minnesota Public Radio News that the driver was apparently following bad GPS directions.

The driver, who was not injured, faces an $11,400 overload fine. However, his employer said he won’t be fired.

The 56-foot-long bridge was built in 1906 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It has a posted 14-ton weight restriction. Sheriff’s officials said the semitrailer was 28 tons over that limit.

Officials said it will cost up to $1 million to replace the bridge.

Northwood is about 90 miles northwest of Fargo.

MOORHEAD, Minn. — A Moorhead police officer will not face disciplinary action after being accused of injuring a handcuffed woman in a hospital last year.

Police officials say Officer Matthew Lambert returned to duty this month. Lambert was charged with aggravated assault after striking Jennifer Thomas while she was handcuffed on a hospital bed at Sanford Medical Center in Fargo last September. Thomas suffered a fractured nasal bone and a bruise to her right eye.

Cass County prosecutors dropped the charge last month after their own expert determined Lambert’s actions against Thomas were “objectively reasonable.”

Lt. Deric Swenson said Tuesday the police department had finished its internal investigation and concluded Lambert should not be disciplined.

Thomas had been arrested at a Moorhead restaurant after police responded to a report of a woman who appeared to have a gun making suicidal comments.

A St. Paul man authorities described as a serial peeper was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday.

A Ramsey County District judge handed down the sentence to Gentry Jamez Johnson about two months after the 39-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree burglary in his case, court records say.

He was charged last August after he broke into the front porch of a home on the 800 block of Carol Avenue and masturbated while peering into the resident’s windows.

His behavior was captured on the 69-year-old homeowner’s surveillance system, and police circulated his image to other local law enforcement agencies asking for help identifying the suspect.

A detective from Brooklyn Center recognized Gentry from similar crimes he committed in his jurisdiction and called St. Paul police, authorities say.

Police suspect Gentry is the same man other residents were sounding alarms about last summer.

In addition to the 69-year-old’s home, other residents on Blair Avenue reported seeing a man in people’s yards who was looking through windows.

Similar reports were made in the Frogtown neighborhood, and two other women who also lived on the 800 block of Carroll Avenue reported seeing a man masturbating on their front porches, authorities say.

Gentry was convicted of interference of privacy for similar conduct in Brooklyn Park back in 2015.

Gentry’s attorney, Adrianne McMahon, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A St. Paul man who drained hundreds of thousands of dollars from his ailing mother’s bank account avoided jail time at his sentencing Wednesday.

A Ramsey County Judge sentenced Timothy James Mathews to three years in prison during his hearing, but stayed the sentence provided he abides by terms of his probation, court records say.

Among those terms, Mathews has to volunteer for 100 hours in a nursing home that serves elderly patients suffering from dementia, a condition his mother suffered from when the St. Paul man was appointed to serve as her power-of-attorney back in 2011.

He was also ordered to write $10,000 promissory notes to four individuals listed in his mother’s will, pay nearly $30,000 in restitution, and turn over the remains of his 401K account to the person now acting as his mother’s fiduciary adviser.

Mathews pleaded guilty to one count of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult last May.

While acting as power of attorney for his mother, Mathews spent more than $700,000 of his mother’s money for his and his wife’s personal benefit, legal documents say. For example, he used $34,000 to pay for his wife’s plastic surgery, and another $39,000 to finance improvements to his house.

While he was spending her money, Mathews twice moved his mother into less expensive care facilities and failed to renew her supplemental health care policy, leaving some of her care providers unpaid.

A fraud investigator started looking into his conduct after observing amounts in the woman’s three Fidelity accounts nose-dive in a short period of time. The investigator noted that several large checks had been signed by Mathews and made payable to him, the complaint said.

Mathews attorney, Andrew Birrell, declined to comment about the outcome of his client’s case. Mathews could not be reached.