Minnesota Gunman, Banned from Owning Guns, Kills 3

(LibertySons.org) – Democrats believe that putting more gun regulations in place will prevent violent crimes. Republicans contend criminals do not follow the law anyway. A tragic shooting in Minnesota appears to support conservatives’ position.

On February 18, law enforcement in Burnsville received a call about an armed man barricaded inside his home. There were seven children, ages two to 15, at the home at the time. Drew Evans, the superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, held a news conference later that day and explained what happened next.

Officers tried to negotiate with the suspect, later identified as 38-year-old Shannon Cortez Gooden, “for quite a bit of time.” Gooden allegedly began firing at officers from multiple positions in the home. Evans stated he has “several guns and large amounts of ammunition” in the house. Officers Matthew Ruge and Paul Elmstrand, both 27 years old, were killed. Paramedic/firefighter Adam Finseth, 40, also died in the shooting and Sgt. Adam Medlicott, 38, suffered injuries.

According to subsequent reports, Gooden had been accused of violent outbursts in the past and had at least one criminal conviction. In 2007, he was convicted of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon for brandishing a knife and throwing rocks at someone he was fighting with. The felony conviction stripped him of his Second Amendment rights.

Gooden followed the terms of his probation, and his conviction was reduced to a misdemeanor. The reduction restored his right to vote but not his gun-owning rights. In 2020, he tried to regain his gun rights by petitioning the court. The Dakota County Attorney’s Office responded to his request by arguing that he’d had multiple police encounters since his conviction, including “assaults, disorderly conduct, and numerous traffic violations demonstrating a continued disregard to obey that law.” Women he had children with had also filed two orders of protection against him.

The court did not restore his gun rights, and law enforcement is not clear how he acquired the guns he allegedly had in his possession.

~Here’s to Our Liberty!