• The incident occurred after a domestic abuse call in the early hours of Sunday morning.
• The victims were Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, and Adam Finseth, a 40-year-old paramedic.
• The incident is being investigated by local authorities and a candlelit vigil was held for the victims.

Minnesota police reported that two officers and a paramedic were killed in a shooting at a family home. The gunman, who barricaded himself inside his Burnsville home with seven children, opened fire as officers attempted to negotiate with him.

The deceased officers were identified as Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27 years old, and the paramedic was Adam Finseth, aged 40. The attacker also died in the incident, which occurred following a domestic abuse call in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Burnsville police Chief Tanya Schwartz expressed that her entire force was “hurting”, while Minnesota Governor Tim Walz characterized it as a “tragic loss for our state”.

State authorities stated that officers received a call around 01:50 local time (07:50 GMT) regarding the address in Burnsville, a city approximately 15 miles (24 km) south of central Minneapolis.

They were responding to a “report of a domestic situation” involving an armed man, stated Supt Drew Evans from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

The responders later discovered that seven children, aged two to 15, were also “barricaded” in the property. They spent “quite a bit of time negotiating with this individual”.

The attacker then opened fire, killing the three victims and inflicting non-life-threatening injuries on a fourth policeman, identified as Adam Medlicott. Details of exactly what happened next are not yet clear, although Supt Evans confirmed that the police “did return fire”. Local media reported that the gunman killed himself.

Supt Evans stated that he had “several guns and large amounts of ammunition” and shot at the first responders from different parts of the home. His name has not yet been released. He was found dead at about 08:00, which allowed other inhabitants of the home to escape unharmed.

Neighbors on the quiet residential street described their fear as the incident escalated. Jason Skog recalled seeing a large police and SWAT presence in his neighborhood.

He described the sound of explosions and gunfire, noting that it quickly became clear that “something bad was taking place”. An investigation is underway into what happened, while emergency workers in the local area and beyond have paid tributes.

A candlelit vigil was held for the victims on Sunday night. The incident occurred just days after another mass shooting in another Midwestern state, during which one person was killed and 21 injured in Missouri. The victims were among a crowd who had been watching a victory parade by the Kansas City Chiefs after the NFL team won the Super Bowl earlier this month.

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