2:19ST. CLOUD – In the moments before he was captured, Brian G. Fitch sounded like a man on the run, two people who know him testified Monday.
Accused of gunning down Mendota Heights police officer Scott Patrick on July 30 during a routine traffic stop, Fitch showed up unexpectedly at a house in Sycamore Street in St. Paul's North End neighborhood a few hours after Patrick's death, said Jeffrey Klink, an associate. Authorities by then had narrowed their suspect search to Fitch and were desperately combing the Twin Cities in a massive manhunt involving more than a dozen law enforcement agencies.
Fitch seemed "a little out of it, like something had happened," Klink testified Monday. Fitch told one man to tell others that he had gone to Canada, but made plans to drive to a cabin in Luck, Wis., according to Monday's testimony. Two people said he carried a black handgun with a laser sight similar to the firearm authorities believe was used to kill Patrick.
Thirteen people in all testified Monday, including police officers who engaged in a close-quarters shootout with Fitch when they found him near the Sycamore Street house. Fitch was shot eight times before his arrest. Standing on his own in court, he appears to have fully recovered from his injuries. Several police officers and one civilian witness testified that they saw at least two muzzle flashes inside Fitch's vehicle as he shot at police; the civilian said he also saw four or five shots fired at police through Fitch's driver's side window.
A woman testified that she drove around the Twin Cities for several hours with Fitch that afternoon, doing errands at Walgreens, stopping at a Dairy Queen and having a tire changed on their vehicle.
It wasn't until that evening that Fitch and the woman, Kelly Hardy, appeared at the Sycamore Street house driving a blue Hyundai Veracruz. Fitch was "really calm," said Jacob Hayes in court Monday, but he wanted Hayes to tell people that he had gone to Canada. He then threatened to kill Hayes' family if Hayes revealed Fitch's whereabouts to anyone.
Defense attorney Lauri Traub asked Hayes, an admitted meth user, why he didn't tell authorities about the threats when he spoke to police on July 30. "Didn't think it was a big deal," Hayes said in court.
Klink said Fitch walked in the door and asked "Who's here? Don't let anybody in," before telling him to turn off his phone. Klink said he heard Fitch making plans with another man to go to the cabin in Luck. When asked if Fitch talked about the cop who had been shot that day, Klink told prosecutor Richard Dusterhoft that it was his "understanding that he [Fitch] did it. I felt it," Klink said.
