Brooklyn Park officers shoot gunman amid investigation into baby's death, police say

BROOKLYN PARK, Minnesota. — Police say officers shot and killed an armed man overnight in Brooklyn Park as part of an investigation into the death of a baby.

Officers were called to a home in Queens Gardens North, near Noble and Prestwick drives, just before 4 a.m. following a 911 report of a 7-month-old infant who was not breathing, according to police .

The baby was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police said about 45 minutes later, officers at the scene investigating “encountered an adult male with a firearm.” A police officer shot the man, who was hospitalized and expected to survive.

The officers filmed the encounter on their body cameras, according to police.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Minnesota State Patrol are investigating.

WCCO spoke to the brother of the man who was shot, who did not wish to be identified. He said the man who was shot was the baby's father.

He told us he was in the house and witnessed the shooting.

“I was trying to grasp [my brother]” he said. “He never had the opportunity to aim a gun. I have never pointed a gun at anyone. »

The man said his brother was so upset about his child that he only possessed the gun to possibly use it on himself.

“I feel like [police] I should have held him back, talked to him,” he said. “He had his back to the cop who shot him.”

WCCO was unable to review body camera video to confirm what happened.

“I'm begging this cop on camera, 'Please don't shoot, please don't shoot,'” the shooting victim's brother said.

He says the baby accidentally choked on milk in the middle of the night.

The family says the child's father is hospitalized in critical condition.