The Ramsey County attorney's office is asking its Washington County counterpart to review the evidence in a fatal shooting by St. Paul police because of a conflict of interest in Ramsey County.

The request was made Tuesday after authorities discovered that one of the four officers involved is the son of an investigator with the Ramsey County attorney's office, said Dennis Gerhardstein, a spokesman for the Ramsey County attorney.

"Since making the referral, the Ramsey County attorney's office has had no involvement in this matter," said a written statement issued Friday by the Ramsey County attorney's office.

The Ramsey County investigator, Dave Korus, is the father of St. Paul police officer Jeffery Korus, a five-year veteran of the department.

The other three officers who fired their weapons during the deadly encounter on Monday were identified earlier this week as John Corcoran, an 18-year veteran of the force; Mark Grundhauser, a four-year veteran; and Michael Tschida, who has been with the department six years.

Police fatally shot Jaffort D. Smith about 3:30 a.m. in the 700 block of Buffalo Street after he fired on them and ignored repeated orders to drop his weapon, said a news release issued this week by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).

Smith also had fired at and injured a woman, Beverly J. Flowers, who was with him at the time.

The BCA is investigating the shooting under a policy change announced by St. Paul police this year that any incident involving fatal or serious injury allegedly caused by an officer would be investigated by the BCA or Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.

The BCA will forward the results of its investigation to the Washington County attorney's office to consider charges.

Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708

Twitter: @ChaoStrib