A person shot by St. Paul cops Monday night is a suspect in two recent homicides and two other shootings in Minneapolis, Minneapolis police said Tuesday.
Earl Bennett, 40, was in critical but stable condition on the hospital as of Tuesday morning. St. Paul cops apparently didn’t know his identity or that he was a suspect once they encountered him.
Bennett is under arrest in reference to a shooting at a small homeless encampment within the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue in Minneapolis on Sunday and one other shooting that happened on the 3500 block of Columbus Avenue in Minneapolis on Monday, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara announced Tuesday.
The triple shooting on Sunday killed two men and sent a lady to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Monday’s shooting happened about 5:15 p.m. and police found a person behind the Columbus Avenue address with potentially life-threatening injuries, in accordance with Minneapolis police.
Police in Minneapolis shared information with law enforcement across the state concerning the suspect after the 2 shootings, in accordance with O’Hara.
Shooting by police in St. Paul
In St. Paul, officers were called to the 400 block of Pierce Street just before 7:45 p.m. Monday on a report of shots nearby. Other callers also reported hearing shots and believed they were coming from the direction of Snelling and University avenues.
“We have now no information to point any of our officers knew his identity or of his past actions prior to encountering him,” said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.
Responding officers found a person, identified on Tuesday as Bennett, with a handgun near Snelling and Charles avenues.
“When officers got here across the person, he pointed the gun he had at his own head and officers began negotiating with him to place it down,” Ernster said. He wouldn’t and walked south on Snelling Avenue. “Officers followed the person and continued to seek advice from him in an effort to get him to place the gun down and give up.”
Bennett walked around within the intersection of Snelling and University avenues and police said they continued to barter with him.
Officers used “less lethal projectiles in an try to get him to place down the gun but were unsuccessful,” Ernster said. Bennett then pointed the gun at officers and so they shot him, in accordance with police.
St. Paul fire medics transported him to Regions Hospital.
Bennett has no everlasting address and recently has been staying within the Twin Cities, in accordance with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is investigating.
Charged with attempted murder in Minneapolis shooting
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Bennett on Tuesday with attempted first-degree murder, with premeditation, within the shooting in Minneapolis on Monday.
Officers responded to a report of a shooting at a sober living facility and located a resident who’d been shot within the neck. Two people identified Bennett, a resident of the house, because the shooter. They said Bennett “showed obvious signs of intoxication when he returned to the housing facility that evening,” in accordance with the criminal criticism.
Staff told Bennett he’d be subject to a drug test and he became upset in a communal dining room. He closed the window shades and threatened several people within the room, saying, “Who wants it first?,” the criticism said.
Bennett pulled a gun, shot the resident who was sitting in a chair and left, in accordance with the criticism.
Bennett is hospitalized under police statement and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office is in search of a warrant for his arrest to be carried out “when medically appropriate,” the criticism said. The prosecution shall be in search of high bail “resulting from public safety concerns and since (Bennett) is presently under investigation for other shootings.”
Past encounter with law enforcement
In 2015, Bennett pleaded guilty to attempted escape from custody and fourth-degree assault of a peace officer after he was accused of punching a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy within the face and attempting to disarm him at Regions Hospital.
The deputy yelled for Bennett to let go of his holstered gun and one other deputy arrived to help. He grabbed Bennett in a bearhug from behind, but Bennett maintained a grip on the opposite deputy’s gun. When something fell from the deputy’s gun belt, the deputy thought Bennett had successfully disarmed him and yelled, “He’s got my gun!”
The opposite deputy pulled his firearm and pointed it at Bennett, telling him thrice, “Drop the gun or I’m going to shoot you!,” in accordance with a criminal criticism from the time. Bennett responded, “I let it go,” and the deputy handcuffed him.
The hospital was put into lockdown throughout the incident. Bennett was sentenced to 4 years in prison.