The man who fatally shot two Burnsville police officers and a firefighter was a 38-year-old who pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon from a 2007 case. He petitioned the court in 2020 to have his gun rights restored, which a judge denied.

Shannon Cortez Gooden was found dead in the home, where he was a renter, according to law enforcement sources and other records.

Law enforcement said Sunday that “several guns and large amounts of ammunition” were found in the home, which Burnsville police were dispatched to about 1:50 a.m. Sunday. Someone in the house in the 12600 block of 33rd Avenue South called 911, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said during a Sunday news conference.

When officers arrived, the armed suspect was barricaded inside the home with family members, including seven children between the ages of 2 and 15, Evans said.

After talking with police negotiators for “quite a bit of time,” the suspect opened fire on officers who were inside the home, and multiple officers returned fire, according to Evans. During the shootout, the gunman fired from several locations inside the house, fatally striking Burnsville officers Paul Elmstrand, 27, and Matthew Ruge, also 27, and firefighter/paramedic, Adam Finseth, 40. Sgt. Adam Medlicott was also injured.

Police received a report about 8 a.m. Sunday that the suspect was dead inside the house. A person with knowledge of the matter said the gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The suspect will be officially identified by the medical examiner, but law enforcement sources confirmed to the Pioneer Press Monday that he was Gooden. A court filing in a civil matter showed Gooden was served at the 33rd Avenue address in December.

A relative of Gooden’s said the family didn’t want to comment Monday.

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