Taxi Carjacking Suspect Shot By Police Identified
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The man who was shot and killed by police after allegedly carjacking a taxi cab in Minneapolis Thursday morning has been identified.
Police say Jason Peter Barsness, 28, was shot after he allegedly emerged from the carjacked taxi and pointed a handgun at officers.
Police said Barsness was riding in a Red & White taxi cab along westbound Interstate 94 around 5 a.m. He had given the driver a non-existent address. When the cabbie stopped in the Lowry Hill Tunnel and told Barsness to get out of the cab, he pulled a gun and carjacked the cab.
Officers pursued Barsness throughout the northern Twin Cities metro area at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour, causing a number of road closures.
The police pursuit ended when Barsness ran over stop sticks in Columbus, which caused the cab to go off the road and into the ditch.
In all, five officers were said to have fired their weapons after seeing Barsness emerge with a handgun. They were State Patrol troopers Jared Sturgill and Andrew Wayne Gibbes, Minneapolis Police officer Paul Dellwo and two as-yet unidentified Brooklyn Park Police officers.
All five are on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure for officer-involved shootings. State Patrol trooper Gerald Ladwig and Minneapolis Police officers Daniel Ledman and Chris Smith, who witnessed the incident, are also on paid administrative leave.
