MINNEAPOLIS — A source confirms to KARE 11 that a federal grand jury has been convened connected to last month's Burnsville shooting.
Investigators have been looking into how Shannon Cortez Gooden was able to obtain multiple weapons that were allegedly used to kill two police officers and a firefighter/paramedic last month.
As grand jury proceedings are secret, no specific details are available. However, a witness is allowed to confirm receiving a subpoena in the case. A witness confirms to KARE 11 the questions were about guns.
In a statement to KARE 11, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office would not confirm or deny that a grand jury has been called in the case.
The purpose of a grand jury is to decide whether or not there's enough evidence to proceed with criminal charges. If so, a grand jury could return an indictment.
"Three officers have been murdered, and, was there more than just the person who pulled the trigger potentially involved in some other crimes?" said Joseph Daly, an emeritus professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. "In my experience dealing with grand juries, they take [their roles] very seriously."
Burnsville officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge and firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth were killed in the Feb. 18 shooting as they responded to a call at Gooden's Burnsville home.
As KARE 11's Lou Raguse reported in the days following the shooting, Gooden was prohibited from possessing firearms as the result of a 2008 second-degree felony assault with a deadly weapon conviction, according to court documents.
In 2019, Gooden petitioned the court to restore his firearm rights, but was denied by a judge.
Search warrants in the shooting case revealed that Gooden had used multiple weapons to fire at officers, including firing more than 100 rifle rounds.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was also investigating how Gooden was able to obtain the firearms used.
A Burnsville gun store owner told KARE 11 at least one of the firearms found at the scene was traced back to a purchase at his business, however, the person who purchased the weapon and passed a background check to receive the weapon in January was not Gooden.