Cop killer's ex says he boasted about stand-off with police before mass shooting

21 February 2024 , 08:51

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The gunman who opened fire on emergency services killing two cops and a firefighter asked his children if they wanted to 'come with him to die,' their horrified mum has revealed.

Shannon Gooden, 38, using multiple guns and a hoard of ammo, opened after barricading himself in his Burnsville, Minneapolis-area, home. Officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27, and Adam Finseth, 40, a firefighter and paramedic were all killed in a hail of gunfire.

His former partner Noemi Torres revealed to KARE 11 reporter Lou Raguse, Gooden had previously fantasised about dying in a shootout. She said: "Whenever he thought that I would call the cops, to throw fear he was like: 'I'm going to have a standoff, I'm going to kill everybody.' It's always been immortalising this fantasy of how he's going to go."

She also revealed Gooden took time to put earmuffs on his children's ears before the shooting started. She also said that he asked the children: "Do you want to come with me?" When asked by the reporter if that meant coming with him to die, Torres replied yes.

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Cop killer's ex says he boasted about stand-off with police before mass shooting

Noemi Torres revealed new things about Gooden's final hours (KARE 11 /Twitter)

There were seven children aged 2 to 15, when the shooting started. Gooden was found dead inside the home hours later; authorities said Tuesday he shot himself in the head.

Despite everything, and the risk he put the children in, Ms Torres said the children still love him. She said: "Even though their dad is this monster, that's still their father. They have unconditional love for them. It hurts me because somebody so evil like that and they still get all the love from their children. He could have took them, he could have done a lot."

Shannon Gooden took his own life following the standoff (Shannon Gooden/Facebook)

Gooden’s standoff with police came only two days before a scheduled district court hearing over his ongoing legal disputes with the mother of his three oldest children. The attorney representing Gooden in that dispute, Robert Manson, did not return a telephone message seeking comment. There was no answer Monday evening at a phone listing for a woman described in court records as Gooden’s girlfriend.

Court records show the state barred Gooden from possessing guns after he pleaded guilty in 2008, aged 22, to second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. Prosecutors said he threw rocks and pulled a knife on a man in a Burnsville shopping mall parking lot.

Gooden had seven children in the house when he barricaded himself in (Shannon Gooden/Facebook)

Authorities have not provided details about Sunday’s call that led police to Gooden’s home.

Court records suggest he cared for seven children — the three oldest by one woman, two more with another and that woman’s two children from a previous relationship.

Court records also show his disputes over the parenting of his oldest three children had grown increasingly contentious. He accused their mother, Torres, of neglect and she called him “controlling” and accused him of abusing her and the children.

Gooden excitedly firing rifle in unearthed footage (Shannon Gooden/Twitter)

Gooden was banned from owning guns (Shannon Gooden/Twitter)

Prosecutors had opposed Gooden’s effort to restore his right to possess guns after the 2007 incident, in which they said Gooden followed a young woman and a cousin from a mall to a parking lot and threatened to slash their tires. Gooden ran at the woman’s brother with a knife, but a security guard disarmed him, so Gooden threw rocks at the brother before speeding away in his own vehicle, prosecutors said.

Gooden finished serving five years’ probation for the 2007 assault charge in 2013.

When he petitioned a court unsuccessfully in 2020 to have his gun rights restored, he and his attorney said he had matured and that he regretted his past poor decisions.