He was a grandfather, a U.S. Army veteran and had a wife who had once worked as a reserve officer on the same North St. Paul police force he worked on. He was a "fantastic person" with a sense of humor who led his department's motorcycle squad, the police chief said.

On a sunny Monday, he began a holiday shift at 7 a.m. Ninety minutes later Richard Crittenden, 57, who had spent nine years on the 19-member suburban police force, was dead.

The Maplewood police officer who had assisted Crittenden on a call to check a possible violation of a domestic protection order was wounded. And a 34-year-old suspect with a lengthy criminal record whom they had struggled with -- and who presumably shot Crittenden -- had also been killed.

"I did his background investigation" when Crittenden was hired, Tom Lauth, the North St. Paul police chief, told reporters on the steps of City Hall.

"He liked to rib people ... have some fun, you know," said the police chief, who said Crittenden had previously worked in law enforcement in Wabasha County. "Richard was well-liked.

"This man meant a lot to so many people," he added. "It's hard to put into words how far out this stretches. This man was a husband; he's a father."

As Lauth spoke, five uniformed officers from North St. Paul and Maplewood stood solemnly behind him. None would talk afterward. "They see each other more than they see their own families," Lauth said, describing the closeness that is inevitable on a small police force. "They're their own sounding boards. They are their own psychologists."

And, said Lauth, they interact with the "worst of society and humanity."

A short time before Lauth spoke, a line of police cars, with lights flashing, escorted a hearse on McKnight Road as it carried Crittenden's body from the apartment where he was shot.

A police officer from Plymouth pulled his car to the side of the road, got out and stood in silent salute.

"We're just proud of the way the officers performed today," said Maplewood Police Chief Dave Thomalla. He said the Maplewood police officer, a 10-year veteran of the department, may have fired more than once at the suspect. She was treated at a hospital and released.

"This is a tragic and sad day," Thomalla added.

Mike Kaszuba • 651-222-1673