Police ID sword-wielding man fatally shot by Hastings cop

Hastings police say they tried to stun the 23-year-old who refused to back down after a reported domestic dispute. The cemetery standoff ended in gunfire.

By JIM ADAMS, Star Tribune

Last update: July 12, 2008 - 10:11 AM

Police fired a Taser stun gun at a sword-wielding Hastings man Thursday night but it didn't stop him. As he continued toward the four officers, ignoring commands to drop his 3-foot Samurai-style sword, an officer shot him, authorities said.

The 23-year-old man, who died Friday at a St. Paul hospital, was identified as Brandon Lee Rodriguez by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's office. The office was to perform an autopsy.

"It is a tragedy for the suspect's family and a tragedy for our police department," said Hastings Chief Mike McMenomy. He said it was the first time since the 1930s that a Hastings officer had shot and killed a suspect.

One of the Hastings officers fired a stun gun, but it apparently didn't work or a barb missed the man, said Dakota County Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Rogers. He is helping the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigate the shooting.

Toxicology tests are not complete, but Rodriguez may have been using alcohol, police said. State records show he had a 2006 felony conviction for drug possession and a third-degree assault conviction last year in Hastings.

No one answered the phone on Friday at Rodriguez's home in the 2800 block of Hwy. 61, where police said he lived with his mother.

Police were called at about 9:30 p.m. to a domestic dispute at the home and were told a man was breaking windows in the family's vehicles. When police arrived, witnesses said the man had fled on foot into a cemetery behind his house. It took about 10 or 15 minutes for three Hastings police officers and a Dakota County Sheriff's deputy to find Rodriguez, McMenomy said.

At first Rodriguez charged the officers in the darkened St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Cemetery. But then he stopped as they ordered him to drop the sword, Rogers said.

When he threatened to kill them and started forward again, Sgt. James Galland fired several times and Rodriguez fell to the ground.

"They felt their lives were in danger," Rogers said. "He refused their commands."

Rogers said the other three officers covered the Hastings officer who fired the Taser. Rogers didn't know why it didn't work or wasn't tried again. However, he said the sheriff's policy would not necessarily recommend Taser use against someone threatening officers with a sword. Hastings police policy suggests Taser use just before using deadly force, McMenomy said.

"I don't think there's any doubt the officers had to do what they did," McMenomy said.

It is the first fatal shooting by Hastings police since an officer shot a member of John Dillinger's gang in 1934 while Dillinger was fleeing the FBI through Hastings, the chief said. Records from that time said that Dillinger and two others escaped FBI and local police. But gang member John "Three Fingers" Hamilton died later from bullet wounds.

McMenomy said he expects a grand jury will review the shooting to see if it was justified. He said Galland, who's been with the department since 1991, has no disciplinary actions on his record and has won several commendations for his patrol work, including a life-saving award for rescuing a suspect from the Mississippi River.

The chief noted that all four officers were put on routine administrative leave after the shooting.

Jim Adams • 612-763-7658

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