A former girlfriend of the Burnsville man who fatally shot three first responders last month testified Tuesday before a federal grand jury, which is apparently focused on how he obtained guns.

Noemi Torres said she never purchased guns for Shannon Gooden, who died by suicide after he killed two Burnsville police officers and a firefighter/paramedic.

A subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota shows Torres was ordered to go to court Tuesday to testify before the grand jury.

Torres said a federal prosecutor inquired about their relationship, which ended in 2016, and whether Gooden asked her to purchase guns for him when they were together.

“I told them ‘no’,” she said Tuesday of her testimony to the grand jury. “The reason why was because I feared for my life.”

Torres has said Gooden was abusive to her and would threaten to kill her if she called the police. “He would definitely have a standoff,” she previously told the Pioneer Press. “… It was going to go down.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota said Tuesday she could not say whether or not the office convened a grand jury in the Gooden case.

While grand juries meet in secret, that does not apply to witnesses and Torres said she was not told she couldn’t speak publicly about it.

Gun shop owner has said investigation underway

Police responded to a 911 call from the woman who was Gooden’s current girlfriend early Feb. 18, Torres said of what the woman told her. Gooden, 38, barricaded himself in a Burnsville rental house where he lived; seven children were inside — five were his and two are his girlfriend’s.

While officers tried to negotiate with him to surrender, Gooden opened fire “without warning” and shot more than 100 rifle rounds at law enforcement and first responders, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has said. Burnsville officers Matthew Ruge and Paul Elmstrand and firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth died of gunshot wounds.

Gooden had a lifetime ban on possessing firearms after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to assault with a dangerous weapon. Gooden petitioned to get his gun rights restored in 2020. His request was opposed by the Dakota County Attorney’s Office and a judge ruled he could not possess guns.

A firearm found at the shooting scene was traced to the Modern Sportsman, a Burnsville firearm shop, owner John McConkey said late last month. He said the person who bought the gun was being investigated for committing a straw purchase — when someone buys a gun legally and provides it to someone who is prohibited from having it.

“The Modern Sportsman had no way of knowing the lower receiver (of an AR-15) would end up in a convicted felon’s/prohibited person’s possession,” McConkey said in a statement at the time. “The prohibited person was not there during the transfer process nor was his name on any of the enclosed documents.”

Someone bought the AR-15 lower receiver from an out-of-state online retailer and shipped it to the Modern Sportsman’s Burnsville location for transfer.

“The purchaser passed the background check and took possession of the firearm on Jan. 15, 2024,” McConkey said.

Sorrow for officers’, firefighter’s families

Torres said she understands that authorities “are trying to figure out how (Gooden) obtained the guns” and she thinks they will make that determination.

Torres had three children with Gooden and was in a custody dispute with him.

“My biggest concern is my children were placed in that house when I was trying my hardest to keep them out of there,” she said.

Her children were in the home when Gooden was barricaded inside; Torres said she never knew there were guns in the house until he killed the first responders. Torres’ 12-year-old daughter was in the same room with her father when he was shooting at the first responders and when he fatally shot himself.

Her daughter recently told her mother that Gooden said his current girlfriend “got away,” according to Torres. “Basically, he should have killed her,” she said Wednesday of Gooden’s statement.

The girl continues to feels sorrow for the officers’ and firefighter’s families. “It’s in her heart, heavy, and I’ve constantly got to remind her that it’s not her fault,” Torres said.

How to help

Donations for the families of the first responders who were killed are being accepted at lels.org/benevolent-fund.

A friend of Torres started a fundraiser for her at gofundme.com/f/transpiration-for because they “are struggling to resume their normal routine due to lack of housing and transportation.”