Shoreview shooting victim was law firm partner

SHOREVIEW, Minn. (AP) -- Colleagues at a Minneapolis law firm say their thoughts and prayers are with the family of Nancy Sullivan. She was shot and killed in Shoreview as she was moving out of a house she shared with her boyfriend, identified by neighbors as John Simpson, 65.

Sullivan, 57, was a partner at the Barnes & Thornburg law firm. Managing partner Peter Ekberg says Sullivan was an exceptional lawyer and a wonderful person who will be missed greatly.

Sheriff's deputies responded to a report of shots fired inside the residence on Grotto Street just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Police are still investigating the relationship between Simpson and Sullivan.

Sheriff's spokesman Randy Gustafson confirms that Kathleen Fay and Tony Brown of St. Paul were wounded. Gustafson believes that Fay is Sullivan's daughter. He said it appears that Simpson was the shooter and that Sullivan was moving out. He says reports from the coroner and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will give greater certainty.

Gustafson says over the past five years there have been three police calls to the house, but none involved domestic abuse. There was a report of a missing person in 2008, a call concerning a burglary in 2009 and a report of a suspicious person this year.

Next-door neighbor Kfir Batiller said Simpson and Sullivan invited him over to swim in their backyard pool and seemed very normal.

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MPR reporter Annie Baxter contributed to this report.

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