Brooklyn Park officers shoot armed man amid baby death investigation, police say
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — Police say officers shot an armed man overnight in Brooklyn Park amid an investigation into a baby's death.
Officers were called to a home on Queens Gardens North near Noble and Prestwick parkways just before 4 a.m. following a 911 report of a 7-month-old infant who wasn't breathing, according to police.
The baby was rushed to a local hospital where they were pronounced dead.
Police say about 45 minutes later, officers at the scene investigating "encountered an adult male with a gun." An officer shot the man, who was hospitalized and is expected to survive.
The officers captured video of the encounter with their body cameras, police say.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Minnesota State Patrol are leading the investigation.
WCCO spoke to the brother of the man who was shot, who didn't want to be identified. He says the man who was shot was the baby's father.
He told us he was in the house and witnessed the shooting.
"I was trying to grab [my brother]," he said. "He never had a chance to aim a gun. Never aimed a gun at anyone."
The man says his brother was so upset about his child, he had the gun only to possibly use on himself.
"I feel like [police] should've pretty much held him back, talked to him," he said. "He had his back turned to the cop who shot him."
WCCO has not been able to review the body camera video to confirm what happened.
"I'm begging that cop on camera, 'Please don't shoot, please don't shoot,'" the shooting victim's brother said.
He says the baby accidentally choked on milk in the middle of the night.
Family says the child's father is in the hospital in critical condition.
