A sheriff's deputy in southwestern Minnesota's Pipestone County shot and wounded a man armed with a meat cleaver at a home where a domestic disturbance was unfolding, authorities said Thursday.
The shooting occurred Wednesday evening at a home in Pipestone, and the man who was shot was expected to survive, said Sheriff Dan Delaney.
The deputy was identified Thursday as Michael LaRock. A 12-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office, LaRock is on administrative leave, which is standard in officer-involved shootings, said the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is continuing to investigate.
According to the sheriff and the BCA:
The deputy was called to the home in the 700 block of 2nd Avenue SW. shortly before 7 p.m. on a domestic dispute in progress between a husband and wife.
The man came out of a vehicle with the cleaver. LaRock told the man repeatedly to drop it, then tried to use his Taser.
But the man was wearing "a thick coat that prevented the Taser from being effective," a statement from the BCA said. LaRock then fired his gun and wounded the man.
The man was treated at the scene by paramedics, taken to a Pipestone hospital and then airlifted to Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D.
