Marathon County Sheriff Lt. Cory Gladden - Photo by WSAU's Tom Schumacher
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – The Marathon County Sheriff’s Department will be taking part in the honor guard procession for the officers killed last week in Burnsville, Minnesota.
According to the AP, officers spoke with suspect Shannon Gooden, 38, for about three and a half hours after he refused to leave his home, telling the officers that he was unarmed and that he had children inside.
As the negotiations continued, Gooden opened fire on the officers and emergency personnel without warning, resulting in officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, as well as firefighter/SWAT team member Adam Finseth, being wounded in the crossfire. The standoff ended after Gooden took his own life, and the SWAT team was able to clear the house and locate his body around 10:15 a.m. CST. Not long after, Elmstrand, Ruge, and Finseth were pronounced dead at a local hospital.
According to court documents, Gooden had a criminal history which included a 2008 felony assault conviction, and was prohibited from possessing firearms. He was also involved in a legal battle for the care of his three children with the age range of the kids living with him being 2 to 15 years old. How he acquired the guns remains unknown to the authorities.
Marathon County Lt. Cory Gladden spoke about being a part of the Honor Guard ceremony, saying, “Anytime we get to attend one of these, it’s a great opportunity, and that’s why we join the Honor Guard. It’s a duty we take very seriously, and we want to make sure we are representing ourselves and the community the best way we can, and it’s a true honor to pay respect to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”
When asked about officers coming from other areas to help cover the gaps caused by losing officers in the line of duty, Gladden said, “What you’ll find is the (law enforcement) community really coming together and other agencies in the area coming to help cover the calls for service in that jurisdiction, so Burnsville is surrounded by very large law enforcement agencies, so those agencies will assist in making sure the citizens of Burnsville will still get the services they need.”
The Burnsville incident was the 11th time since early 2023 that law enforcement officers have been wounded or killed by gunfire in Minnesota or neighboring states. In total, 136 U.S. police officers died in the line of duty in 2023, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund yearend report found. That number represented a slight decrease from 2022 when 224 officers were killed in the line of duty, and in 2021 when police deaths reached an all-time high of 586.
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