Search spreads to Edina
Intense police activity late Tuesday morning possibly involving gunfire has led officers to a St. Louis Park grocery store, where numerous law enforcement vehicles converged, according to witnesses.
As of early afternoon, squad cars were positioned outside the Byerly’s near Hwy. 100 and Excelsior Boulevard. Officers with weapons drawn and accompanied by K-9 were positioned behind their vehicles.
A police officer on the scene who was assisting with sealing off nearby streets said a man with a gun was in the grocery store parking lot.
Byerly’s employees standing outside said some of their coworkers kept themselves in locked rooms for a time.
Shortly before 1 p.m., a half-dozen or so officers went into the Byerly’s liquor store entrance. A law enforcement helicopter and an ambulance stationed outside had left. Moments later, a large group of people left the store cheering as they boarded a bus.
Police attention was shifting to the west edge of Edina, where police have closed all northbound lanes of Hwy. 169 north of the Crosstown.
At the AAA auto club next to the Byerly’s, two sides of the building were closed to traffic. “We are all safe here,” said AAA spokesman Garrison McMurtrey.
The chain of events apparently started about 10 a.m., when police arrived at a home in the 700 block of 8th Avenue S. in Hopkins and ordered anyone inside to come out.
Resident Ryan Coplan said his girlfriend was there alone when officers “came on bullhorns with ‘who’s ever inside, come out with your hands up.’ ”
Coplan, who said he moved in less than a year ago, said his girlfriend later called him and said the officers had “guns drawn, searched the house and went on their way.”
Police told her they were investigating “shots fired at a cop” in St. Louis Park, Coplan added.
Soon after, around 11 a.m., undercover officers with their weapons clearly visible were investigating a barbershop on Excelsior in Hopkins, across the street from the Blake School. A barbershop employee explained that police attention on his business was “a misunderstanding.”
No agencies have released any information about the activities, although the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office described the situation in St. Louis Park as “ongoing” and asked people to stay away from the scene.
