Cass County sheriff’s deputy released from hospital after he was shot Sunday

LEECH LAKE RESERVATION - A Cass County deputy has been discharged from the hospital after he was shot near Walker on Sunday evening and another man was killed in an exchange of gunfire, Sheriff Bryan Welk said.

Few other details were released, and neither the deputy nor the man who died was identified.

“We ask the community to continue to keep [the deputy], his family, and all those affected by this tragic incident in your thoughts and prayers as he continues to heal,” Welk said, adding that the deputy was shot in the upper right thigh.

Deputies responded to a 911 call reporting a shooting shortly before 5 p.m. near homes in Turtle Lake Township in rural Walker, Welk said in a previous news release. He said they attempted to make contact on Onigum Road NW with a man who fled on foot.

“There was an exchange of gunfire,” the news release stated. “During the shooting a deputy was shot and ... the male subject was pronounced deceased at the scene.”

Welk said body cameras were active during the incident and the deputies involved have been placed on critical incident leave while the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) investigates.

Mike Ernster, a spokesperson with the BCA, wrote in an email Monday, “We cannot confirm any names or provide more information at this point in the investigation. We will issue a release in the next day or two after our preliminary investigation has completed.”

Officers from the sheriff’s and police departments, BCA, DNR and FBI were at the scene near Bayside Resort, which is 5 miles north of the Northern Lights Casino.

Kurtis Glassman lives across the street from where the shooting occurred, and he said it’s possible a bullet struck his house. Investigators surveyed his house and spoke with him.

“I heard some shots,” Glassman said. “I thought it was fireworks at first, some kids playing with fireworks.”

Sunday’s shooting is the second officer-involved shooting in the Walker area in recent months.

On Aug. 8, a Walker police officer shot and wounded a man who had been threatening employees and shoppers and wielding a knife outside the Dollar General Store.