MINNEAPOLIS — A man is dead and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is investigating after what the Minneapolis police chief calls an incident involving officers in the Longfellow neighborhood Wednesday night.
Chief Brian O'Hara met with reporters following the incident, which he says started with a 911 call around 9 p.m. reporting a man with a gun acting strangely and talking to himself walking on the 3000 block of 29th Ave. About 15 minutes later, O'Hara said, citizens reported seeing an armed man with a similar description a few blocks over at 34th and Hiawatha. One caller told dispatchers the man was waving a gun around and felt threatened.
Marked squads were dispatched to the area and officers located the man, who reportedly took off on foot. O'Hara says multiple officers chased the suspect, told him he was under arrest, and then there was a confrontation. The chief said the man was told multiple times to drop the gun but he refused.
Eventually, O'Hara says, officers used deadly force and the suspect, identified by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office as 39-year-old Michael Warren Ristow of Bloomington, was shot. After removing the gun from Ristow's hand, the chief said officers provided lifesaving measures before he was taken to the hospital, where doctors pronounced Ristow dead.
A press release sent out hours after the fatal incident says the suspect's gun was found to be jammed.
"We immediately notified the BCA. The BCA has responded and taken control of the scene and will be conducting an investigation into the use of force," O'Hara told reporters late Wednesday night. "All the information I have available to me, I have no reason to think this is anything other than a justifiable and lawful use of force by police officers."
O'Hara added that four officers were involved in the incident, and believes three discharged their weapons.
The scene remained active until around 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning when roadblocks and police tape were taken down and traffic was allowed to resume in the immediate vicinity of the shooting.
Tony Webster owns Barr Web Plumbing, blocks away from the shooting.
"All those little negative things really kind of diminished the quality of the neighborhood," said Webster. "And that's what's really concerning."
Jason Del Castillo owns Lowbrow Saints Tattoo, just across the intersection from Webster.
"It's unfortunate for where we are, for all the things that have happened over here," he said.
He their businesses have been heavily impacted because of COVID and the murder of George Floyd and are still recovering.
Webster thinks of that, and the officers who have been through so much since Officer Jamal Mitchell's death.
"There's no way that they should have to worry about coming home safely," said Webster.
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