Star Tribune
In Minnesota, attacks against police are on the rise, especially in domestic assault calls
For law enforcement in Minnesota, the slaying of two police officers and a paramedic in Burnsville last weekend serves as another bleak reminder: Their line of work is dangerous.
Lately it’s becoming more so — most commonly during responses to domestic disturbance calls like the one that precipitated the triple homicide last Sunday.
Reported assault incidents against officers across Minnesota are up 160% from a decade ago — a metric including everything from intimidation, biting and punching to an assault with a deadly weapon— according to data tracked by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Officers have reported at least 3,400 assaults in Minnesota since 2021, with a 10% increase last year, according to the BCA data. Ninety-four occurred last month, slightly behind the number reported in January 2023.
Deadly attacks make up only a small fraction of the assaults. The killing of Burnsville police officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27, brings Minnesota’s total fatal assaults of officers to four since 2020. That’s the same number that occurred in the entire first decade of the 2000s, but roughly a quarter of police murders in the 1970s, state data show, painting a complicated picture of how violence against law enforcement has ebbed and flowed over the past half-century.
The recent Minnesota data tracks with a trend emerging across the United States: Killings of police are down, but law enforcement are reporting more overall assaults.
“This is unacceptable in a democratic country,” said Maki Haberfeld, professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.
Those who study policing say there is no single explanation for what is driving the attacks. They say the increase tracks with a surge in violent crime and the COVID-19 pandemic, along with anti-police sentiment, staffing crises in major law enforcement agencies and a rise in gun ownership.
“Gun violence against law enforcement tends to follow a similar pattern for violent crime in the general population,” said John Shjarback, professor at Rowan University’s Department of Law and Justice Studies. “And 2020 was the single largest increase in terms of national homicide in our country’s history.”
Police assaults in Minnesota
The killings of Elmstrand, Ruge and 40-year-old firefighter and paramedic Adam Finseth are still under investigation, but officials say the three men responded to a domestic assault call early Sunday, which led to a police standoff with seven children trapped inside a home.
Shannon Cortez Gooden, 38, shot and killed the officers and Finseth, who attempted to render aid. Gooden eventually turned the gun on himself, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner. Another officer, Sgt. Adam Medlicott, was also shot, and is recovering from noncritical injuries, city officials said.
“Our police officers and our fire paramedics, they come to work every day, they do it willingly, they know that they might have to give up their life for their partner’s, for someone else,” said Burnsville Police Chief Tanya Schwartz in a news conference Sunday, as emergency responders from across the metro gathered to salute the slain men. “They know they have to give up their life sometimes, and they do it anyways.”
The triple slaying marks one of very few times more than one officer was killed in Minnesota in a single incident.
Six Minnesota police officers were killed on duty from 2010-2019, according to FBI and BCA data.
The state had not seen a police officer killed for five years when, in 2021, Red Lake Police Officer Ryan Andrew Bialke was shot during a welfare check. In 2023, Pope County Sheriff Deputy Josh Owen was shot and killed while responding to a domestic disturbance call. Owen’s killing was among nine instances of officers struck by gunfire in the region, also including North Dakota, Wisconsin and Iowa, since April 2023. Five other officers were killed in that span.
About 30% of all assaults on Minnesota police occurred during domestic disturbance responses.
Aggravated assaults — usually involving a deadly weapon— against Minnesota police jumped nearly 20% from 2021 to 2023, and comprised about a quarter of total attacks. Officers were also fired upon about 60 times in 2023, up from 40 times a couple years ago.
A national trend
In the United States, being a police officer is more dangerous than the average civilian profession.
From 2020 to 2022, the combined rate of accidental and intentional deaths of police officers jumped from 13 to 16 fatalities per 100,000 officers. That makes policing four times as deadly as the national average rate of fatalities among civilian professions, though some jobs, like logging, driving and construction still have significantly higher fatality rates.
High-profile acts of violence against law enforcement show how quickly a call can go sideways, such as the attack on two New York City officers in Times Square captured on video last month.
Compared to other western nations, like Scotland and England, the United States has seen incremental rises in violence against police in recent years, “but they’re certainly catching up,” said Garth den Heyer, a New Zealand-based professor who teaches courses on policing and homeland security at Arizona State University.
Due to the availability of guns, more assaults in the United States end in death, several criminologists said.
“This is an American phenomenon,” Shjarback said. “The same level of police officers are not shot and killed in many other countries around the world. So we are unique in that American police officers are at a heightened risk.”
Since 2010, at least 750 law enforcement officers have been murdered in the line of duty nationwide, according to the FBI. Several studies say a vast majority of firearm assaults on police were nonfatal.
The pandemic years of 2020-2022 saw 180 police intentionally killed, about a 20% increase from the prior three years, and more than any three-year period across the data.
Accidental deaths of officers were nearly as common in 2020-2022, with about 160 officers killed nationwide. The FBI’s most recent statistics show six officers were intentionally killed this year, while another six died in accidents.
Haberfeld attributes some of the recent rise in attacks to an “anti-police climate” she said is perpetuated by politicians and amplified by the media.
“There is a perception of lawlessness, and there is no real deterrence,” she said. Police are being restricted in the use of force, Haberfeld said, but not being trained on “new tools” to deal with complicated situations that may escalate. Adding into the equation a rise in violent crime, “then you have a perfect storm.”
Shjarback said there is not a lot of research done on violence against police — and criminologists are hampered by inconsistent and untimely data — making it difficult to say with certainty what factors drive these trends.
He pointed to several academic studies that did not find a sustained rise in attacks on police following episodes of protests and riots against police.
Michelle Phelps, sociology professor at the University of Minnesota, said both police and the people they interact with are on “higher alert” these days, and tense encounters could be contributing to more violence. “Being on high alert has never been a good thing.”
The rise also coincides with the pandemic, which led to a surge in road rage and attacks on flight attendants, she said.
“There’s no reason to think that shouldn’t have impacted police too,” she said.
A 19-year-old driver trying to get around slower vehicles collided head-on with an SUV in Wright County and killed one person and injured several others, officials said Thursday.
SUV passenger Janice Evelyn Johnson, 92, of Arden Hills, died Monday at HCMC from injuries she suffered in the collision on Oct. 22 in Monticello Township on County Road 37 near County Road 12, the Sheriff’s Office said in a search warrant affidavit filed in Hennepin County District Court.
The driver and two other people in the SUV survived their injuries, according to the affidavit, which the Sheriff’s Office filed to collect Johnson’s medical records at HCMC as part of its investigation.
According to the affidavit:
Deputies arrived at the crash scene and spoke with the car’s driver, Christian Kabunangu, of Brooklyn Park, who said he was heading west on County Road 37 and found himself behind two vehicles traveling below the speed limit.
“He was late for work, so he decided to pass them,” the affidavit read. Kabunangu said he saw the oncoming SUV and estimated it was about a half-mile down the road.
As he attempted to pass one of the slower vehicles, he explained, the other driver “sped up, preventing him from getting back into the westbound lane,” the filing continued.
As the Honda drew near, he swerved to the left, but the SUV did the same and they collided.
Star Tribune
University of Minnesota researchers find that native plants can beat invasive buckthorn on their own turf.
If the invasive buckthorn that is strangling the life out of Minnesota’s forest floor has a weakness, it is right now, in the shortening daylight of the late fall.
With a little help and planning, certain native plants have the best chance of beating buckthorn back and helping to eradicate it from the woods, according to new research from the University of Minnesota.
The sprawling bush has been one of the most formidable invasive species to take root in Minnesota since it was brought from Europe in the mid-1800s. It was prized as an ornamental privacy hedge. All the attributes that make buckthorn good at that job — dense thick leaves that stay late into the fall, toughness and resilience to damage and pruning, unappealing taste to wildlife and herbivores — have allowed it to thrive in the wild.
It grows fast and thick, out-competing the vast majority of native plants and shrubs for sunlight and then starving them under its shade. It creates damaging feedback loops, providing ideal habitat and calcium-rich food for invasive earthworms, which in turn kill off and uproot native plants. That leaves even less competition for buckthorn to take root, said Mike Schuster, a researcher for the university’s Department of Forest Resources.
When it takes over a natural area, buckthorn creates a “green desert,” Schuster said. “All that’s left is just a perpetual hedge, with little biodiversity.”
Since the 1990s, when the spread became impossible to ignore, Minnesota foresters, park managers and cities have spent millions of dollars a year trying to beat it back. They’ve used chainsaws and trimmers, poisons and herbicides, and even goats for hire. The buckthorn almost always grows back within a few years.
It’s been so pervasive that a conventional wisdom formed that buckthorn seeds could survive dormant in the soil for up to six years. That thought has led to a sort of fatalism: even if the plant were entirely removed from a property there would be a looming threat that it would sprout back, Schuster said.
But there is nothing special about buckthorn seeds. They only survive for a year or two.
Eden Prairie Eagles (6-3) at Maple Grove Crimson (9-0), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Maple Grove faithful are understandably jittery about getting Eden Prairie this early in the playoffs, but they should trust their eyes. The Crimson are loaded, with quality playmakers at every turn, like safety/receiver Dylan Vokal. Eden Prairie is built for games like this, but while the Eagles will keep things tight for awhile, Maple Grove will pull away in the second half, leading to a seismic sigh-of-relief from northwest metro. The pick: Maple Grove 35, Eden Prairie 21
David says: Eden Prairie’s time, however decorated an success-filled, is done and over. Provided the Crimson are able to take it. Maple Grove is capable of success as long as players don’t make the moment too big. Former coach Matt Lombardi cracked the code. What about his replacement, Adam Spurrell? The pick: Maple Grove 21, Eden Prairie 14
Edina Hornets (7-2) at Eagan Wildcats (5-3), 7 p.m.
Jim says: On paper, this leans toward an Edina victory. The Hornets have top-end talent on offense (QB Mason West, WR Meyer Swinney), an under-appreciated defense and a season-opening 35-14 victory over Eagan. But the Wildcats are resilient and don’t back down from anyone. Quarterback Brooklyn Evans is adept at running the Wildcats option offense and will keep them in the game. The pick: Edina 28, Eagan 15
David says: Tempting as it is to pick against Edina and revel in another office cake party, let’s go with the Hornets in this one. Expect an improved Eagan team to keep Edina within reach, however. The pick: Edina 21, Eagan 20
Alexandria Cardinals (7-2) at Moorhead Spuds (9-0), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Alexandria came oh-so-close to beating Moorhead on Oct. 11, falling 36-34 when a game-winning field goal went wide-left. While the Cardinals hoped for this rematch, Moorhead has the look of a team on a mission. Outside of the head-to-head matchup, Moorhead dominated every other opponent with a series of 30-point plus victories. No one mashes the Spuds. The pick: Moorhead 44, Alexandria 34
David says: The Game of the Year, Part II. Only thing to make this more juicy would be an upset. Is Alexandria up to that task? I don’t have the courage to go out on that limb in this space. The pick: Moorhead 42, Alexandria 24
Andover Huskies (7-2) at Elk River Elks (8-1), 7 p.m.
Jim says: Another highly anticipated rematch. Andover handed mistake-prone Elk River it’s only loss, 47-31, on Sept. 20. With three lost fumbles, Elks’ coach Steve Hamilton called it the worst game they’ve played in five years. You can bet they’re itching to prove they’re better than they showed that night. The pick: Elk River 49, Andover 37
David says: Bet the over when these two teams clash. Andover’s quarterback Joseph Mapson is a much more polished and proven signal caller that he was in late September. The Pick: Andover 49, Elk River 48.
