By Mara H. Gottfried
Pioneer Press
RAMSEY COUNTY, Minn. — A driver shot at a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy Tuesday night from point-blank range with a bullet ricocheting off the squad vehicle’s hood and striking the windshield, according to the sheriff’s office.
The case came after Eagan officers were shot at on Saturday and a St. Paul officer was assaulted as he apprehended a burglary suspect early Monday, according to charges filed in both cases.
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“It’s a dangerous time and we’re lucky that there are people that are willing to serve in this field,” Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, a deputy and his K-9 were heading to assist with a report of a fight when he saw a possible road rage incident involving the driver of a Buick LeSabre on Rice Street.
The deputy began to position his squad behind the Buick, when the driver made a U-turn and fired the shot about 8 p.m. at Rice Street and Roselawn Avenue on the Maplewood - Roseville border, the sheriff’s office said.
The deputy pursued as the driver headed south on Rice Street and east on Wheelock Parkway to the McDonough Homes off Timberlake Road near Jackson Street in St. Paul, where the deputy lost sight of the Buick.
A witness reported the suspect exited the Buick and was picked up by another person.
“Some quick work by a Roseville police officer helped identify the vehicle that picked up the suspect,” the sheriff’s office said in a Wednesday statement. “Its description and license plate were shared over police radio.”
A Minnesota State Patrol trooper saw the car was westbound on Interstate 694 near Rice Street . Law enforcement followed it until a State Patrol aircraft was overhead. The vehicle exited onto eastbound Interstate 94 and was pulled over in Minneapolis.
The 25-year-old passenger, a St. Paul resident, was identified as the shooting suspect, the sheriff’s office said. Law enforcement arrested him and the driver.
Investigators determined the suspect threw a handgun from the vehicle during the pursuit, and a handgun was found in the 1900 block of Rice Street during a search by another Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy and her K-9. The gun was determined to have been stolen.
The sheriff’s office carried out search warrants at the suspect’s home and two vehicles Tuesday night.
The Ramsey County attorney’s office is reviewing the case for charges.
What happened Tuesday was reminiscent of a 2024 case in St. Paul, when a passenger in a vehicle being pursued by a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy shot at the deputy and he was struck by shrapnel, Fletcher said.
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