Shakopee Public Schools identified teacher Chase Anthony Tuseth as the man fatally shot by a Mankato police officer during a struggle at a Mankato, Minn., hotel early Saturday morning.
The school system issued a statement Monday describing 33-year-old Tuseth as “an outstanding teacher who had a passion for working with at-risk students.”
“He was always looking for better ways to engage and connect with his students,” Tokata Learning Center Principal Eric Serbus said in the statement. “His warm smile, innovative teaching, and desire to help students will be greatly missed.”
Tuseth taught science and physical education at the Tokata Learning Center and was a Minnesota State University graduate.
State and local police released no additional information about the fatal shooting since Saturday morning, which upset Tuseth’s family, Tuseth’s uncle Mark Liptrap of Spokane, Wash., told the Mankato Free Press newspaper.
Liptrap said his sister — Tuseth’s mother, Mickie Tuseth of Stewartville — wasn’t informed of her son’s death until 12 hours after he was killed.
“The big question everybody’s asking is ‘Why didn’t they Taser him?’ ” Liptrap told the Mankato newspaper. “… This is so uncharacteristic of him.”
The Mankato Department of Public Safety says an officer responded to a disturbance at the Country Inn & Suites about 4 a.m. Saturday.
Police scanner traffic indicate that a desk clerk at the hotel called 911 at 4:02 a.m. to report feeling threatened by a man behaving aggressively in the lobby and throwing objects, the Free Press reported.
The officer shot Tuseth after a struggle, hitting him in the left side with an exit wound on his back, the newspaper reported.
The officer was treated at the Mankato hospital for unspecified injuries and released.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the shooting.
Liptrap doesn’t dispute the possibility that his nephew was creating a disturbance and intoxicated, suggesting that he had been out with friends in downtown Mankato and took a cab or got a ride with friends to the hotel, because Tuseth’s car was later found in downtown Mankato. But he questions the necessity of using deadly force, he told the Free Press.
While Tuseth had a history of drinking — sometimes heavily when with friends — he didn’t have a history of violence, his uncle said.
Tuseth was hired by Shakopee Public Schools in August 2016, according to the Shakopee Public Schools release, and previously worked at the Integrated Arts Academy in Chaska and Watershed High School in Minneapolis.
Tuseth graduated from Minnesota State University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in ecology and biology. He was a high jumper on MSU’s track team as well.
He taught English in Korea before obtaining his Minnesota teacher’s license in 2012 and earned a master’s degree in secondary-education/life science from St. Mary’s University in Minneapolis in 2015. He was also in the University of Minnesota’s leadership development program for educational administrators at the time of his death, according to Shakopee Public Schools.
“From our very first introduction, I immediately knew he would be an excellent addition to our district teaching staff and that he had the ‘it factor’ to become an exceptional administrator,” Shakopee Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Rod Thompson said. “We will miss his ambition, spirit, passion and dedication to our students and families.”
Counselors will be available to students and staff at Tokata Learning Center when students return from winter break. The release encouraged students, families, teachers and staff to “communicate their feelings” and reach out for support.
This report contains information from the Associated Press.