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Dan Gunderson
Moorhead, Minn.

Charges filed in attempted shooting of Minnesota state trooper

Minnesota State Patrol is responds to an officer-involved shooting Monday.
The Minnesota State Patrol is reporting an officer-involved shooting Monday morning on Interstate 94 near Minnesota Highway 336, east of Moorhead.
Dan Gunderson | MPR News

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Attempted murder charges were filed Thursday against a Milwaukee woman for allegedly trying to shoot a state trooper who stopped to help after the vehicle she was driving slid into the ditch along Interstate 94 near Moorhead.

Melody Victoria Gray, 30, is also wanted in Wisconsin for kidnapping and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

It started as a routine call for trooper Mark Peterson, who stopped to assist a vehicle in the ditch Monday morning, but quickly turned violent.

Melody Victoria Gray
Attempted murder charges were filed Thursday, March 8, 2018, against Melody Victoria Gray, of Milwaukee, for allegedly trying to shoot a state trooper who stopped to help after the vehicle she was driving slid into the ditch along Interstate 94 near Moorhead.
Minnesota Dept. of Public Safety

Court documents say the vehicle did not have proper license plates, and while checking the vehicle identification, the trooper learned the vehicle was stolen in Wisconsin. He walked back to the vehicle and a passenger, Domonique Crayton, 29, stepped out the car.

As Peterson attempted to handcuff Crayton, the woman got out of the car from the driver's seat holding a 9mm handgun, her arm extended. She "held the gun to the head area of the trooper and appeared to pull the trigger. The gun however did not discharge," according to the charging statement.

Peterson pulled himself and Crayton toward the back of the car while the woman allegedly tried to chamber a bullet. As she raised the gun again, the trooper fired his service weapon striking her in the right arm; she dropped the gun and ran into a field, where she was later found with a gunshot wound.

The trooper continued to try and handcuff Crayton and they both fell to the ground. He got the handcuffs on Clayton and got him into the back seat of his squad, where Crayton kicked out the windows.

In addition to the charge of attempted murder in the first degree, Gray is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, and receiving stolen property in Clay County District Court in Moorhead.

Gray was hospitalized in Fargo after the shooting.

Crayton was also charged with damage to property for kicking out a squad car window after he was arrested. Charging documents say he has a current warrant out of Wisconsin for kidnapping, human trafficking, sexual assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Peterson was not injured and is on standard paid leave while the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigates, the state Department of Public Safety said.