COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. — A series of criminal events that began with a reported abduction in Maplewood Monday morning ended in an officer-involved shooting outside a home in Cottage Grove.
Cottage Grove Director of Public Safety Pete Koerner says the crime spree began around 8 a.m. when the suspect abducted a woman from a Maplewood parking lot and forced her to drive to a location in St. Paul. Once there, Koerner says a "serious crime occurred."
In a written release, St. Paul Police confirmed that woman was sexually assaulted in her home before the suspect stole a vehicle and fled. The victim called 911 and reported what had happened. St. Paul officers traced to the car to Cottage Grove, and helped officers there track the suspect.
Koerner says the suspect drove to Cottage Grove, dumped the vehicle he took from the woman and used a handgun to carjack a second vehicle from its owner.
Around 9 a.m. Koerner says the suspect entered a home on the 7400 block of Hidden Valley Lane and took a family of four people hostage. Eventually, those hostages were able to escape, and the suspect stole a pickup truck from the residence and crashed it just down the block. At that point Koerner says the man got out of the crashed truck, encountered officers with a weapon in his hands and was fatally shot by a Cottage Grove officer and at least one officer from a neighboring department.
"It could have been much worse," Koerner said when asked about what else could have happened. "Honestly, I can't imagine what the families are going through, either the one that was victimized by having his vehicle stolen, or the family having an unknown person come to their house... terrible."
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension say the man died by suicide to a gunshot would,, according to the medical examiner.
Koerner says the incident was captured by Cottage Grove squad car cams and by body cameras worn by officers from other apartments who were on scene. That video will be turned over to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).
KARE 11 spoke with a resident who lives on or near the 7400 block of Hidden Valley Lane in Cottage Grove. She described hearing loud noises, including one that had a "metallic sound." The episode lasted just seconds, but when she looked outside the woman saw a man on the ground, surrounded by a number of police officers.
Investigators are still sorting through exactly what unfolded but Commander Dave Kvam of the Maplewood Police Department says early indications are that it began when a woman was abducted from a parking lot in his city, then taken to her home in St. Paul, where "a number of crimes occurred."
St. Paul Police have yet to comment on the part of the crime spree that occurred in their city.
