ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) has identified four St. Paul Police Department officers who fired their weapons during a fatal officer involved shooting incident which happened early Monday morning in St. Paul. All of the officers are on standard administrative leave.
- Officer John Corcoran has been with the department for 18 years.
- Officer Mark Grundhauser, 4 years with the department.
- Officer Jeffery Korus, 5 years with the department.
- Officer Michael Tschida, 6 years with the department.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the deceased as Jaffort Demont Smith, 33, of St. Paul. Smith died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The BCA is investigating the incident at the request of the St. Paul Police Department.
St. Paul Police Department officers responded to Rapid Recovery Towing, 14 E. Acker Street in St. Paul, shortly after 3:30 a.m. Monday in response to a 9-1-1 call about a man with a gun.
According to the preliminary investigation, a woman had entered the business shortly before 3:30 a.m. followed by a man now identified as Smith. Smith displayed a gun and took the woman back outside.
Soon afterward, officers spotted Smith and the woman near the intersection of Acker St. E. and Buffalo Street. Smith shot the woman, and then fled. The officers pursued Smith to the backyard of a home just south of Buffalo Street and Genesee Street, where Smith fired at the officers and ignored repeated calls for him to drop his weapon. At one point, officers fired, fatally striking Smith.
The victim, Beverly Joan Flowers, 49, of St. Paul, was taken by ambulance to Regions Hospital where she remains hospitalized.
The nature of the relationship between Smith and Flowers, if any, is part of the ongoing investigation.
When the BCA completes its investigation, the BCA will present its findings to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office for review.
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