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Brandt Williams and Liala Helal
Eden Prairie, Minn.

2 dead after police chase on Hwy 212

Police surrounded a vehicle
Police surrounded a vehicle on eastbound Hwy. 212 in Eden Prairie between Hwy. 101 and Dell Road around 8 a.m. Friday, Feb. 7, 2014, after the driver led them on a high-speed chase from Hwy. 41.
Richard Sennott/The Star Tribune via AP

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Two people are dead after a morning police chase and shooting on Highway 212 in the western suburbs of Minneapolis, the Minnesota State Patrol said Friday.

Police chase
A frame from a MnDOT traffic camera shows State Patrol troopers and police chasing a vehicle eastbound on Highway 212 out of Carver County and into Eden Prairie.
Courtesy MnDOT

A man and woman were in a red Saab that was reportedly driving erratically and at high speeds in Chaska heading eastbound, State Patrol spokesman Lt. Eric Roeske said. The car crashed near a wall.

Officers fired at the two after they emerged from their vehicle, he added.

They have been identified as 36-year-old Matthew Vincent Serbus and 34-year-old Dawn Marie Pfister.

At a news conference, reporters asked Roeske several times about a possible hostage situation. Roeske said the relationship between the man and the woman, and the circumstances under which they were together in the car, are under investigation.

Roeske also wouldn't say if one or both of the now deceased people were armed at the time of the shooting.

Four officers were involved in the shooting and are on standard administrative leave while the investigation continues.

Highway 212 reopened late afternoon on Friday, after being closed for several hours.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating. BCA officials released this initial account Friday afternoon:

According to the preliminary investigation, Chaska Police Department officers, Carver County sheriff's deputies and Minnesota State Patrol troopers just after 7:30 a.m. responded to reports of a vehicle driving erratically and at high speeds near Highway 212 and County Road 51 in Chaska.

The same vehicle was reported to have fled the scene of a rear-end crash on Highway 212 and County Road 43. Responding officers located the red Saab heading eastbound on Highway 212 and a pursuit ensued which reached speeds of 80-90+ miles an hour.

Just before 8 a.m. the vehicle crashed along the wall on Highway 212 near Dell Road in Eden Prairie. The driver and the passenger emerged from the vehicle. The circumstances of the shooting that followed remain under investigation at this hour.

One Minnesota State Patrol trooper, two officers from the Chaska Police Department and one Carver County sheriff's deputy have been placed on standard administrative leave.