Star Tribune
Shooter in Burnsville killings possessed firearm illegally through ‘straw purchase’
One of the guns seized by law enforcement in the home where Shannon Gooden shot and killed two Burnsville police officers and a firefighter/paramedic was bought illegally in what is called a “straw purchase,” according to the owner of the gun shop where the weapon was obtained weeks before the shooting.
John McConkey told the Star Tribune that an AR-15 lower receiver was picked up by the purchaser at the Modern Sportsman Gun Shop and Range in Burnsville, roughly 6 miles from where Gooden unleashed more than 100 rounds of gunfire during an hours-long standoff on Feb. 18 in the 12600 block of S. 33rd Avenue.
The lower receiver generally contains the assault-style rifle’s serial number and is the central part in which the firearm’s other components attach to make the weapon function.
Gooden, 38, lost his right to possess a firearm after his conviction in 2008 for second-degree assault in Dakota County. In August 2020, Gooden petitioned the court in vain to regain his right to have a gun. He explained that he wanted to protect himself and his family, according to court records.
McConkey added Tuesday that he does not know whether that weapon, among multiple firearms found in Gooden’s home, was fired during the standoff or mortally wounded any of his victims, officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, 27, and firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth, 40. Gooden then fatally shot himself while seven children were in the home.
The lower receiver “was purchased from an out of state online retailer and shipped to our shop for transfer” to the buyer, McConkey said. “The purchaser passed the [FBI] background check and took possession of the firearm on January 15th.”
McConkey emphasized that his gun shop “had no way of knowing the lower receiver would end up in a convicted felon’s/prohibited person’s possession. [Gooden] was not there during the transfer process, nor was his name on any of the enclosed documents.”
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives recently raised concerns about guns being stolen from lawful owners, manufacturers or licensed dealers across the country. People who are prohibited from purchasing firearms sometimes turn to legal buyers with clean criminal histories to purchase weapons on their behalf, a practice referred to as “straw purchasing.”
The person who picked up the firearm is now “under investigation for committing a felony straw purchase,” he said. “We are working closely with the BCA [Bureau of Criminal Apprehension] and cannot release any more information at this time due to this being an ongoing investigation.”
BCA spokeswoman Bonney Bowman declined Tuesday to confirm McConkey’s account, saying, “Due to the active nature of the investigation, I’m not able to share any additional details at this time.”
The BCA’s investigators seized several firearms and a large amount of ammunition at the scene of the standoff. They also recovered cartridge casings that showed Gooden had fired “more than 100 rifle rounds at law enforcement and first responders,” an agency statement released last week said. The BCA has yet to disclose how Gooden came to illegally possess the guns and ammunition.
The deadly standoff began after police were called about “an alleged sexual assault allegation,” according to a search warrant affidavit filed last week by the BCA, which has not offered a possible motive for the shooting.
A memorial service for Elmstrand, Ruge and Finseth is scheduled for 11 a.m. in Eden Prairie in the Grace Church’s 4,300-seat auditorium. The service can also be watched on a livestream. Afterward, a procession following the funeral for three first responders will make its way from the church to Burnsville. The public is invited to line the route to show their support for the fallen, city officials said.
Star Tribune staff writer Stephen Montemayor contributed to this report.
The lead pastor of Lakes Area Vineyard Church in Detroit Lakes said that a missionary was killed in an act of violence Friday in Angola, Africa.
Beau Shroyer moved there in 2021 with his wife, Jackie, and five children. They were working with the missionary organization SIM USA, founded in 1893 in Charlotte, N.C. SIM USA president Randy Fairman shared in a message to the Lakes Area Vineyard congregation that the Shroyers were one of the first families to move to Angola after pandemic lockdowns eased.
Fairman said many details are still unknown about Shroyer’s death. He said he got a call Friday “informing me that Beau Shroyer was killed while serving Jesus in Angola and is now with his Savior.”
“It is my belief that from his vantage point, he can see how his family will be cared for, and it is not hard for him to trust our good Father,” Fairman wrote. “From our perspective and the perspective of Jackie and the kids, we now must trust Jesus in a season that we never imagined. We must trust Him without requiring Him to give us an understanding of why He allowed this. It is difficult and stretches our faith.”
Troy Easton, lead pastor of Lakes Area Vineyard Church, said in a message to congregants that “Moments like these create so many unanswerable questions for us and it adds to the pain to know that we may never understand why our Father has allowed something like this to happen.”
“As more details became available regarding what’s next for the family, what arrangements are being made to celebrate and honor Beau’s life, and practical ways you can love and serve them, we will be certain to share them with you.
Along with his wife, Shroyer, 44, a former Detroit Lakes police officer and real estate agent, leaves behind children Bella, Avery, Oakley, Iva and Eden.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
This year, its jump-scares and lore landed it on Forbes’ list of “7 of the World’s Scariest Haunted Houses” alongside a 160-room mansion in California filled with “occult oddities,” a house built on an old cemetery near Chicago, and a haunted theme park in New Zealand built on the grounds of an old psychiatric hospital. The Haunted Ship, as the Irvin is known in October, is open just one more night — from 6:30 to 10 p.m. on Halloween.
“But this isn’t just a manufactured scare factory,” according to Forbes’ scare scouts, who reportedly visited the ship and had the VIP experience — which includes controlling the dialogue of a disembodied skull as visitors stream past. “In 1964, a sailor died on the ship during a boiler room accident, prompting the Duluth Paranormal Society to investigate the ship. Employees have reported seeing unexplained shadows, hearing phantom footsteps, and had objects thrown at them while doing maintenance work.”
The pilot house of the William A. Irvin is covered in cobwebs during October, a stop on the VIP tour of the seasonal Haunted Ship. (Jana Hollingsworth / The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The tour twists through the ship’s nooks, crannies and areas specific to its life on the Great Lakes — like a few gruesome dining areas where bloodied limbs are scattered about. There are creepy clowns and Victorian-era beings who stare wordlessly. A sink runs with bloody-colored water and a skeleton sits in a muddied bathtub surrounded by its innards.
The VIP experience offers a chance to roam through the ship’s living quarters alongside an ethereal character in the role of Irvin’s second wife. She sashays through the space with tales from the past, then allows you entry into private spaces where a saw blade rests in a sink and a body meant for the morgue vibrates with electrical waves on a bed. It offers a chance to dip into the pilot house, where wheels and gears are draped in cobwebs, offset in the opposite direction by a fresh perspective on the Aerial Lift Bridge.
The view from the Haunted Ship offers a new perspective on the Aerial Lift Bridge. (Jana Hollingsworth / The Minnesota Star Tribune)
There are countless dark corners for jump scares, strobe lights and tight spaces with hidden exits. There is a place designed to trigger claustrophobia. And there are mind-bending questions: Is that a person in that chair or isn’t it? Who is making that growling-moaning sound? What is that smell?
The final question is answered at the exit of the ship, where there is a running tally of how many people haven’t been able to finish the tour (90 as of Friday night) and how many have wet their pants (35).
How many people have opted out of the Haunted Ship? (Jana Hollingsworth / The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Police said they will be releasing details Monday about the shooting death of a 23-year-old man last week in New Hope.
Carnell Mark Johnson Jr., of Bloomington, was shot in the chest Thursday in the 7300 block of Bass Lake Road and died that same day at North Memorial Health Hospital, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
A police official said more information will be released about the shooting later Monday. No arrests have been announced.
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