18-year-old charged with shooting St. Cloud police officer in hand

A teenager was charged Wednesday in connection with him shooting a St. Cloud police officer in the hand, an encounter that set off two nights of violent unrest in the city this week.

Sumaree D. Boose, 18, of St. Cloud was charged in Stearns County District Court with first-degree assault, use of deadly force against a police officer on allegations that he wounded the officer early Monday as the two struggled.

Boose appeared in court and remains jailed in lieu of $400,000 bail. Court records do not yet list an attorney for him.

The officer was shot in the hand as Boose was resisting arrest on suspicion of having a gun, police have said. The encounter in the 1000 block of S. 10th Avenue ignited rumors of two black men being hit by police gunfire followed by swift and emphatic rebuttals from civic leaders.

Debunking of the rumors notwithstanding, unruly crowds gathered near the scene of the shooting, with the second night being especially violent, with gunfire, looting and officers being pelted with rocks over the course of several hours.

The complaint also revealed that the teenager suffered an injury to the chin.

"That could be consistent with a bullet grazing his chin after exiting [the officer's] hand," the court filing read, "and/or may be consistent with the defendant's chin striking the ground or other area during the struggle."

Late on Sunday, officers saw Boose on a Facebook live video feed dancing and having what appeared to be a handgun in a pants pocket.

Police later saw Boose near the Go For It Gas station and suspected he had a gun without a permit to carry a firearm. Shortly after midnight, Boose disobeyed an officer's commands and began running. Others with him also fled.

The officer, whose identity has yet to be released, soon caught up to Boose in a residential yard and tried to arrest Boose, who resisted.

The officer shot his camera-equipped Taser, which recorded Boose holding a handgun about the time the officer deploys his Taser a second time.

The officer drew his firearm and "moves onto [Boose's] body" while yelling for backup along with more warnings and commands to Boose, the charging document read.

Additional officers arrived and subdued Boose, who repeated that he had been "shot in the chin."

The officer, whose right hand was pierced by a 9-millimeter bullet, and Boose were soon taken by ambulances to St. Cloud Hospital.

After leaving the hospital, Booses told investigators he did not intentionally shoot the officer and claimed the officer may have unintentionally shot him in the chin with a round that went through the officer's hand.