A suspect who fired multiple rounds at law enforcement during a nearly eight-hour standoff in south Minneapolis was safely taken into custody on Tuesday afternoon.
Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said the incident began around 11:30 a.m. when deputies attempting to serve a Department of Corrections arrest warrant for weapons for 31-year-old Tyler O'Brien at an apartment unit on West 28th Street and Nicollet Avenue heard gunfire.
Deputies retreated and continued hearing shots from inside the building.
"Within a few minutes, law enforcement learned there was a female and a child also in the apartment," Witt said. "A short time later, a woman and child walked out safely with the assistance of law enforcement on scene."
The apartment building was evacuated while O'Brien remained inside.
An hour into the standoff, O'Brien claimed to have pulled the pin on an explosive device and said he was willing to throw it at law enforcement. Witt said another shot was then heard, but no explosive device was used.
"A drone was deployed to determine where in the apartment building the suspect was located, the suspect shot the drone down," added Witt.
The standoff ended when negotiators with the Minneapolis Police Department made contact with O'Brien by phone and convinced him to surrender.
No one was injured during the incident, and Witt emphasized that police officers never fired their weapons.
"This was a potentially extraordinarily dangerous situation where an individual was shooting quite a few rounds directly at law enforcement, could have killed a civilian or innocent bystander," said Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey. "The fact that they were able to get people out safely with no injuries is something that is really impressive and they deserve a ton of credit."
Investigators are working to determine how many rounds were fired. Witt said O'Brien had a hand gun and long gun and that rounds were fired from an AR-15 style weapon.
During a Tuesday evening press conference, Witt did not provide additional details about the explosive device O'Brien claimed to possess. Investigators were still processing the scene, making it unclear as to when tenants would be able to return to their apartments.
