Paul Elmstrand was a 27-year-old Burnsville, Minnesota police officer killed in the line of duty on February 18, 2024, when a barricaded felon opened fire during a domestic standoff. The Paul Elmstrand Burnsville shooting killed three first responders that morning: Elmstrand, Officer Matthew Ruge, and firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth. The gunman, Shannon Gooden, used AR-15-style rifles that his girlfriend had bought for him in a series of illegal straw purchases, because his 2007 felony assault conviction barred him from owning guns.
Who Paul Elmstrand Was
Paul Henrik Elmstrand was born December 29, 1996, in Cambridge, Minnesota, and grew up on his family’s farm in North Branch. He graduated from Cambridge-Isanti High School in 2015 and earned a criminal justice degree from the University of Northwestern in St. Paul in 2018. Before law enforcement, he worked at the family strawberry farm, the Chisago County Parks Department, and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and took part in the Isanti County Explorers program.1Ballard-Sunder Funeral & Cremation. Paul Henrik Elmstrand Obituary
He joined the Burnsville Police Department as a community service officer in 2017 and was promoted to police officer in 2019.2Police1. Peace Officers Memorial Day: Remembering Minn. Officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge He served on the department’s Honor Guard and had recently been accepted into the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association’s Honor Guard before his death.
He married his childhood sweetheart, Cindy Castruita-Ontiveros, in 2018. The two had known each other since kindergarten and began dating while working together at the Elmstrand family farm.3CBS News Minnesota. Wife of Fallen Burnsville Police Officer Paul Elmstrand Recalls Their Love Story When he died, they had two young children: María, who was two, and Mateo, about six months old.
What Happened That Morning
Shortly before 2:00 a.m. on February 18, 2024, Ashley Dyrdahl called 911 from a home at 12605 33rd Avenue South in Burnsville. She screamed “Help me” before the call cut out. When officers arrived, Dyrdahl met them outside and told them her partner, Shannon Gooden, was sexually abusing a child inside, had firearms in the house, and had previously threatened to “take everyone out with him.” Seven children between ages five and fifteen were in the home.4Dakota County Attorney’s Office. Use of Force Determination
Officers entered to secure the children and found Gooden barricaded on the upper level with them. He refused to come down, denied having firearms, and told negotiators the situation would take hours because he wanted time with his children and feared prison or death at the hands of police. Officer Ruge served as the primary negotiator. Talks ran for more than three hours as the Burnsville Emergency Action Group and a South Metro SWAT team with an armored Bearcat arrived.
At 5:25 a.m., Gooden opened fire from the upstairs hallway without warning. Within seconds, Officer Elmstrand was struck by multiple rounds and fatally wounded.4Dakota County Attorney’s Office. Use of Force Determination Sergeant Adam Medlicott was shot in the arm but returned fire while helping evacuate Elmstrand. Officer Daniel Wical also returned fire, hitting Gooden in the leg. Officer Ruge, who had made it out to the driveway after a bullet struck his vest, was fatally shot around 5:31 a.m. when Gooden began firing from an upper-level window at the Bearcat. Firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth, who was treating Elmstrand at the rear of the armored vehicle, was killed in the same barrage.
Officer Javier Jimenez, positioned as a sniper, fired one round at Gooden through the window. The gunfire lasted roughly 13 minutes. Investigators later recovered 119 rifle cartridge cases and one 9mm cartridge from the upper level of the house, meaning Gooden fired more than 100 rounds.5Minnesota Department of Public Safety. BCA Shares New Details on Burnsville Incident At 6:54 a.m., a child inside called 911 to report that Gooden had shot himself. All seven children exited safely by 7:00 a.m. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled Gooden’s death a suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
The Shooter and How He Got the Guns
Gooden, 38, had criminal convictions and domestic violence allegations going back nearly two decades. A 2004 misdemeanor disorderly conduct conviction was followed by a 2005 arrest for disorderly conduct, domestic assault, and interference with a 911 call; he was convicted of the disorderly conduct count while the others were dismissed. In August 2007, he was convicted of felony second-degree assault after brandishing a knife at family members and throwing rocks at a cousin.6FOX 9. Burnsville Shooting Suspect: Who Was the Gunman That felony stripped him of the right to possess firearms.
In 2020, Gooden petitioned to restore his firearm rights. A judge denied the request after a Dakota County attorney argued he posed a threat to public safety. Separately, two women — a former partner, Noemi Torres, and Dyrdahl — filed petitions for orders of protection against him. Both petitions were denied.7KARE 11. How Did All Those Children End Up in the Custody of the Burnsville Police Shooter In a 2022 custody ruling, Judge Mark Ireland found the abuse allegations “not proved,” made Gooden’s home the children’s primary residence, and awarded him 260 overnights per year compared to 105 for Torres. According to KARE 11, the custody judge did not note Gooden’s felony record.
Because he could not legally buy guns, Gooden had Dyrdahl buy them for him. Between September 2023 and January 2024, she purchased five firearms from two federally licensed dealers at his direction, texting him about specific models. On the federal purchase forms, she falsely stated she was the actual buyer and was not acquiring the weapons for a prohibited person.8Star Tribune. Federal Charges: Girlfriend Bought AR-15-Style Firearms for Felon Weeks Before Burnsville Ambush
Two of those rifles were used in the attack, both bought in January 2024. One was a Franklin Armory FAI-15 chambered in .300 caliber and fitted with a binary trigger, a device that fires once when the trigger is pulled and again when it is released. Gooden loaded the rifles with .300 Blackout ammunition and used a large-capacity magazine.9U.S. Department of Justice. Burnsville Woman Pleads Guilty to Straw Purchasing Firearms Used in Fatal Shooting of First Responders
The Criminal and Investigative Aftermath
Dyrdahl was indicted on 11 federal counts, including conspiracy and straw purchasing. She pleaded guilty and on September 10, 2025, Judge Jerry Blackwell sentenced her to 45 months in federal prison followed by two years of probation.10MPR News. Ashley Dyrdahl, Who Gave Guns to Burnsville Shooter, Faces Sentencing
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s Independent Use of Force Investigations Unit investigated the police response. Dakota County Attorney Kathryn M. Keena determined that the three officers who fired — Medlicott, Wical, and Jimenez — were legally justified. Keena concluded it was “objectively reasonable” for them to believe Gooden posed a deadly threat because he “fired first and continued firing,” killing three responders and wounding a fourth.4Dakota County Attorney’s Office. Use of Force Determination The BCA later released 12 body camera recordings and thousands of photographs. The families of the three fallen responders asked the public not to share the footage, calling it “not just video; it is the most painful moment of our lives.”11CBS News Minnesota. Burnsville Minnesota Standoff First Responders Killed Evidence
What Changed in Minnesota Law
The 2024 Minnesota legislature created the Task Force on Domestic Violence and Firearm Surrender, which issued recommendations in February 2025. The task force called for a state board on firearm surrender, standardized multilingual forms, elimination of statutory distinctions between types of firearms, and immediate surrender upon court order rather than the existing multi-day windows.12Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Domestic Violence Firearms Legislative Report
Several recommendations became law in the 2026 legislative session. A domestic violence firearms bill required Order for Protection and Child Protective Order forms to ask about the existence and location of firearms and mandated their transfer within 10 days. A broader public safety omnibus bill reclassified stalking as a violent crime, making those convicted ineligible to own firearms. It also extended the window for warrantless arrest on misdemeanor domestic violence charges from 72 hours to 14 days and required law enforcement to report domestic violence call data, including arrests and the presence of firearms, to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.13Tubman. Policy Changes for Domestic Violence Survivors From the 2026 Legislative Session The session also included $12 million in one-time funding for crime victim services.
In family court, after Gooden’s death Judge Thomas Gilligan granted Noemi Torres sole custody of the three children she shared with Gooden and ended her child support and child care obligations.14MPR News. Burnsville Shooter Shannon Gooden Used Legal System Against Accuser
Who He Left Behind
Elmstrand was killed alongside two colleagues. Officer Matthew Ruge, 27, was on the department’s Crisis Negotiation Team and served as primary negotiator during the standoff before being fatally shot near the Bearcat. Firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth, 40, a U.S. Army veteran of two tours in Iraq who joined the Burnsville Fire Department in February 2019, was killed while treating Elmstrand. He left behind his wife, Tara, and two children, Liam and Nora.15National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Adam Loren Finseth
A joint public memorial for the three men was held February 28, 2024, at Grace Church in Eden Prairie. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety estimated 8,500 law enforcement officers, firefighters, and paramedics attended in person, with roughly 20,000 more watching online.16MPR News. Burnsville Officer, Paramedic First Responder Memorial Funeral Sergeant Medlicott, still recovering from his gunshot wound, spoke at the service.
Cindy Elmstrand-Castruita described her husband in a public statement as someone with “a servant’s heart” who “would drop everything to help someone who was in need.” In her first television interview, she said, “He was our rock. He was our provider. He is what brought joy to our lives.” She said she had listened to the emergency radio communications from the standoff and knew her husband was “perfectly calm and collected” in his final moments.17FOX 9. Widow of Burnsville Officer: He Was Our Rock, He Was Our Provider
The Minnesota 100 Club donated $50,000 for each family and provided additional help to Sergeant Medlicott. The Front Line Foundation contributed $60,000. The city of Burnsville verified the Law Enforcement Labor Services Benevolent Fund as the official channel for public donations.18City of Burnsville. Community Support for Burnsville First Responders Elmstrand and Ruge are memorialized on the Officer Down Memorial Page; Finseth was honored on the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland, in 2025.19U.S. Fire Administration. Adam Loren Finseth Fatality Details