Sheriff’s bodycam footage released in northern Minnesota officer-involved fatal shooting

DULUTH – A video released by the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday contains body and dashboard camera footage from the fatal confrontation between law enforcement and a Normanna Township man accused of starting three houses on fire, including his own.

The 20-minute video, which rapidly gained views on YouTube on Tuesday afternoon, shows the perspectives of the five deputies who shot at Adam Clinton Wolf, 57, on July 15. Wolf died at the scene in a rural area between Duluth and Two Harbors.

The deputies were placed on leave, which is protocol.

In the video, a deputy drives along a dirt road, easing past a fire to his left. Other deputies follow behind or alongside as they pass a riding lawn mower tipped on its side but still running. Then Wolf, with a weapon, emerges from the woods on the right.

“Male! Male! Male!” a deputy yells.

Wolf seems calm when he turns and faces them. The muzzle of his weapon glows and the deputies begin shooting, one through his own windshield. Wolf drops to the grass.

“Stop! Hold fire!” a deputy yells.

In the background, puffs of gray smoke rise above the trees. On the day of the shooting, Sheriff Gordon Ramsay said in a post on social media that Wolf “engaged them,” and five deputies fired their weapons during a “chaotic and dangerous situation.”

Wolf had on hand several homemade devices seemingly set to fire projectiles at first responders.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified the men who fired shots as Sgt. Zachary Peterson and deputies Charles Bennett, Matt Miranda, Forest Lunemann and Michael Pikul.

Three of the five officers are expected to return to work this week, according to St. Louis County Undersheriff Jason Akerson. The other two are scheduled to return in August.

The deputies responded to calls that Wolf had sprayed a neighbor with gasoline and started two houses on fire. His own was engulfed in flames and he was on a riding lawn mower with a weapon. The two fires were extinguished, while his own burned to the ground.

Wolf was convicted of a misdemeanor, and two other cases were open at the time of his death.

Subsequent harassment filings and counterfilings by Wolf followed over the next three years, according to court records.

At the scene, a neighbor described Wolf as “creepy” and said he had predicted months ago that Wolf would start his house on fire.