Authorities have identified the man fatally struck by a Ramsey County deputy's squad after he allegedly fired a handgun at approaching law enforcement last week in a Mounds View neighborhood.
The Ramsey County Sheriff's Office said its deputy struck Troy Allen Engstrom, 48, of Shoreview, an alleged domestic violence suspect, around 10:40 a.m. after Engstrom fired at them.
Engstrom died that afternoon at HCMC of multiple blunt force injuries suffered in the collision, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office said Tuesday. The manner of death was homicide, it said.
On Tuesday night, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified the deputy who struck Engstrom as Sgt. Donald Rindal. The BCA said he has been in law enforcement for 22 years and is on standard administrative leave.
According to a news release from the Sheriff's Office, the incident occurred when Ramsey County sheriff's deputies assisted Mounds View police on a domestic violence call in which a handgun reportedly was fired at the AmericInn by Wyndham in the 2200 block of Mounds View Boulevard.
The suspect left, then reportedly was seen in the area of the nearby Mermaid Bar & Grill. Deputies found the suspect in the 5200 block of Pinewood Court, where he raised a handgun and fired at the approaching vehicles, striking a Mounds View police officer's car above the driver's side windshield and the hood of the Ramsey County deputy's vehicle below the driver's side windshield, "narrowly missing both officers," the news release said.
The Sheriff's Office said the deputy "used his vehicle to stop the threat" after fearing for his life and the lives of others.
Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this report.
Christina Saint Louis • 612-673-4668