Granite Falls officer shot while serving search warrant; suspect in custody

A police officer is recovering after being shot while serving a search warrant on Monday afternoon in Yellow Medicine County in Minnesota. According to the Granite Falls Police Department, officers from a multiagency drug and gang task force executed the knock-and-announce warrant around 4 p.m. at a home on Bergeson Drive in Granite Falls. A person inside started shooting as soon as officers entered the building.

Officers shot back, and one officer was hit in the crossfire, the police department said. The injured officer was taken to the Granite Falls Hospital for treatment but has since been released.

Police say the suspect surrendered “without further incident” after a 70-minute standoff. The suspect is in custody at the Yellow Medicine Jail pending formal charges.

According to Hubbard Broadcasting’s KSTP, multiple people in the town about two and a half hours west of the Twin Cities reported seeing a large police presence with law enforcement reporting from neighboring counties.

One neighbor, Cynthia Smith told KSTP there were three or four gunshots around 4 p.m. She said her kids were outside when her husband heard the commotion.

“He heard gunshots outside and he goes, ‘Babe,’ he goes, ‘Did you hear that?’ And I go, ‘Why?’ And he goes, ‘Come here, come in,’ and after it, he sees a lot of cop cars coming down this way really quick,” she recalled.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will investigate the use-of-force incident. The names of the suspect and the officers involved have yet to be made public.