No charges for St. Paul police officer who killed man during shootout, county attorney says
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A St. Paul police officer who killed a man during a shootout last year will not face charges, the Ramsey County Attorney's Office announced Thursday.
The attorney's office said in a memorandum that "the use of deadly force by Officer [Michael] Tschida against Mr. [Brandon] Keys was justified" under Minnesota law.
Keys fired the first shots at Tschida on Dec. 7, 2023, according to footage released by the St. Paul Police Department. Tschida returned fire, striking Keys in the head, according to police. Keys was hospitalized and died the next day.
Police responded to Cretin and Marshall avenues the day of the shootout after a woman called 911 to report a man she had a protection order against was following her. The woman said she was driving in a car with a man in the passenger seat when Keys pulled in behind her and started hitting her vehicle with his. She also said Keys had a gun.
When Tschida arrived at the scene, he ordered Keys to the ground, footage released by police showed. The footage then showed Keys walking to his car and crouching behind his driver's side door before popping up and shooting at Tschida, hitting him in the ankle.
Tschida was hospitalized, treated and released.
The Ramsey County Attorney's Office, in its review of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's investigation into the shooting, found Tschida followed the St. Paul Police Department's use of force policy. The attorney's office expounded on its decision in the memorandum:
"We further believe that Officer Tschida was objectively reasonable in his belief, based on the totality of the circumstances known to him at the time he used deadly force: 1) that Mr. Keys posed an imminent threat to his life and the lives of other bystanders as specifically articulated by the evidence presented to us, and that he had demonstrated both the ability and opportunity to fulfill that threat, which he did when he suddenly and without warning, shot at the officer; and 2) that absent his use of deadly force without unreasonable delay against Mr. Keys, he was reasonably likely to be killed, or suffer great bodily harm."
Note: The video above originally aired Dec. 12, 2023.
Domestic Violence Resources: For anonymous, confidential help, people can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or 1-800-787-3224.
