WATCH: Procession for 2 Officers, Medic Killed in Burnsville Ambush
On Sunday morning two Burnsville police officers and a Burnsville firefighter were killed after being shot by a suspect who was in a stand off with police. After the news of the shooting went out over the air it seemed officers from every jurisdiction in the Twin Cities and parts of Greater Minnesota were on their way to the hospital to escort those local heroes.
MN CRIME - Police/Fire/EMS posted updates yesterday including when the two police officers and firefighter were identified.
The Burnsville police officers have been identified as Paul Elmstrand, 27, and Matthew Ruge, 27. The fire medic has been identified as Adam Finseth, 40. Elmstrand joined the Burnsville Police Department in August 2017. Ruge joined the BPD in April 2020. Finseth had been a Burnsville Firefighter/Paramedic since February 2019.
Traffic cameras from MnDOT captured the procession as it made its way to the hospital.
The video also features some narration as to the background of what happened, but the images of all those emergency vehicles headed to the hospital gave me chills.
It reminds me of a bitterly cold January morning when news was trickling out about a Waseca police officer who was shot by a fleeing suspect, at the time those injuries were deemed life-threatening but by some miracle, that officer, Arik Matson, survived.
Our deepest sympathies go out to the victims' families and relatives, including one officer, Paul Elmstrand, who was a Cambridge-Isanti graduate, of this senseless and cold crime.
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