St. Paul police release footage of shootout that killed Brandon Keys, injured Officer Michael Tschida
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The St. Paul Police Department released two videos Tuesday of last week's deadly shootout between an officer and a Maplewood man.
Police say Brandon Keys, 24, opened fire on Officer Michael Tschida near Cretin and Marshall avenues Thursday at about 2 p.m.
Tschida, who was struck in the ankle by gunfire, returned fire, striking Keys in the head, according to police. Keys died from his injuries the next day.
Tschida was treated and released from the hospital hours after the shooting.
No one else was hurt in the shootout, which happened in broad daylight while both men were surrounded by several vehicles and pedestrians.
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Police say before the shooting, a driver had called 911 to report she was being followed by a man she had an order of protection against. She also said he was ramming into her vehicle and had broken her window.
What the footage shows
In the videos — one from a squad camera and one from a body-worn camera — Tschida is seen speeding to the scene. As his squad arrives and stops in the middle of the street, Keys is seen standing next to the woman's driver's side window.
Tschida gets out and yells "get on the ground" to Keys three times.
Keys walks back to his car and briefly crouches behind his open driver's side door. He then pops up and fires multiple rounds at Tschida, who returns fire.
The woman then slowly drives into the nearby gas station as Tschida yells, "Shots fired! Shots fired! I'm hit! One-three-eight, I'm hit. Send me medics. I'm not code four yet, though."
The woman runs into the street towards Keys. Tschida yells at her, "Where is he? Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Get out of the f— way, lady! Is he down?"
Tschida continues to yell at her to get out of the way, and adds that he can get Keys help.
The woman yells to Tschida, "You got to help him!"
Tschida is seen limping towards Keys' vehicle with his gun drawn. Police backup then arrives, more than 90 seconds after gunfire erupted.
In the body-worn camera footage, the woman is seen crouching over Keys. Tschida runs over, limping, and grabs a handgun next to Keys' foot.
Tschida walks a couple steps, places the handgun on the ground, and then radios in.
"F—! One-three-eight, I got the gun," Tschida said.
Before the body cam video ends, Tschida is heard yelling at the woman.
"Just get off him!" Tschida said. "Get up here!" Get up here!"
Use-of-force expert analysis
Joseph Dutton, a police use-of-force expert who worked as a field training officer for nearly 30 years, says it appears in the videos that Keys was the first to fire.
"He moves to his right quickly. He moves quickly behind his vehicle," Dutton said. "That's when the cop says, 'Oh, f— ,' because he knows that's a possibility, but if that does happen, he's going to probably be involved in a gunfight."
After the shooting, Dutton points out how Tschida moves to the right, instead of directly at Keys and the vehicle.
Then Tschida takes the gun from Keys' feet and kneels on it.
"What he's doing is covering the suspect and he's guarding the gun," Dutton said. "Tactically, that's really, really well done."
Police account of the shootout
In a press conference held in the shooting's aftermath Thursday, Sgt. Mike Ernster gave SPPD's account of the deadly encounter.
"(The 911 caller said) the man was intentionally driving his vehicle into hers, damaging it. She also stated he was in possession of a handgun and also had broken out a window on her vehicle," Ernster said. "When our officer arrived in the area of this call, he confronted the man. That man fired towards our offices with that handgun, striking him in the lower leg. Our officer returned fire, striking the man and critically injuring him."
Police say Tschida was raced to Regions Hospital by another officer at the scene. When Tschida was released from the hospital hours later, members of law enforcement were on hand to salute him.
"Our officers get called to these situations. When they're asked for help, they're going to respond," Ernster said.
St. Paul's mayor, police chief discuss the shooting
In Tuesday's press conference following the release of the videos, Mayor Melvin Carter and St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry both described the shooting as a complicated situation.
"We are fortunate and grateful that in this incident the injuries to our Officer Tschida were non-life threatening. Our prayers, of course, continue to be with him and with his family as he recovers from that incident," Carter said. "And we also know that we lost a community member at the same time. We also know that that reality is traumatizing to many of us in community, and also to every single one of our police officers."
"We're keeping the family and friends of Mr. Keys in our thoughts, and we can greatly appreciate the fact that they are grieving the loss of a loved one," Henry said. "We also stay completely committed to our officer as he recovers from his injuries. None of us in our community want incidents like this to happen. None of us."
Carter and Henry were very brief in their comments Tuesday. Police tell WCCO they are not explaining the videos — they just want to release it so people can interpret it for themselves.
Black Lives Matter Minnesota is calling for the release of more body camera footage.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is using the footage in their ongoing investigation.
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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.
