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Brandt Williams
Minneapolis

13 fatal police shootings this year could be most in Minnesota history

Police at the shooting scene.
Police secure evidence at the shooting scene on Larpenteur Avenue in Falcon Heights, where Philando Castile was shot by a St. Anthony police officer.
Christopher Juhn for MPR News file

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The 13 people shot and killed by police so far this year could be the highest number of fatal shootings in state history.

An MPR News analysis of data from the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, combined with research from retired FBI agent Larry Brubaker, goes back as far as 1981. The previous high of 12 fatal police shootings occurred in 2015.

Twelve of the decedents are men, one was a woman.

Two of the shootings became highly publicized after videos from the incidents were made public.

In March, Burnsville police officers killed Map Kong, 38, after he bolted from a car carrying a knife. The body camera footage showed Kong waving the knife wildly in his car before he ran.

A Dakota County grand jury cleared the three officers who shot Kong of any criminal charges. However, Kong's family filed a civil lawsuit, claiming that Kong was suffering from a mental illness and needed to be hospitalized, not killed.

In July, Philando Castile, 32, was fatally shot by St. Anthony Police officer Jeronimo Yanez. Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, live-streamed the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

In what is likely an unprecedented move, the Ramsey County Attorney's Office filed criminal charges against Yanez.

Law enforcement officials say a non-fatal officer-involved shooting last week shows the danger police face everyday. The chief of the Eden Prairie Police Department said two city officers were fired upon before they shot and wounded a man following a car chase, which ended in Edina. The officers were not injured.

No Minnesota law enforcement officer has been fatally shot in the line of duty so far in 2016.

Here's a list of the fatal police shootings so far in 2016, organized by incident date, name of decedent and law enforcement agency involved:

• Feb. 10 - John Birkeland - Roseville Police Department

• Mar. 17 - Map Kong - Burnsville Police Department

• Mar. 29 - Denise Fairchild - Aitkin County Sheriff's Office

• Apr. 4 - Raul Heraldes - Minneapolis Police Department

• May 9 - Jaffort Smith - St. Paul Police Department

• May 26 - Eugene Smith - St. Paul Police Department

• Jul. 6 - Philando Castile - St. Anthony Police Department

• Aug. 2 - Adam Jo Kimek - Bureau of Criminal Apprehension

• Aug. 28- Justin Kulhanek Derks - Eagan Police Department

• Sept. 17 - Dahir Adan - Avon Police Department

• Sept. 26 - Jamie Joseph Lewis - Burnsville Police Department

• Oct. 24 - Kristofer Youngquist - Rochester/Olmstead Emergency Unit

• Oct. 28 - Jay Johannes Holmgren - Stevens County Sheriff's Office