Officials have identified the inmate found dead in the Anoka County Jail as a Big Lake man accused of holding a woman hostage during a standoff with police in Anoka earlier this year.
Richard Shane Daily II, 36, was found unresponsive in his jail cell a little after 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and pronounced dead there, the Anoka County Sheriff's Office said in an initial news release. The identity was confirmed Tuesday by the Sherburne County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating Daily's death.
"The case is under investigation; the cause and manner of his death are pending the results of toxicology tests," the office said in a statement Tuesday.
Responding medical staff included staff from Advanced Correctional Healthcare Inc. — which Anoka County contracts as a medical provider — and Allina Health's emergency medical services.
Daily's attorney did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday.
According to a criminal complaint, Daily robbed the Walmart on Ball Road NE. in Blaine on April 4, allegedly pointing a handgun at a Walmart employee as he left with stolen goods, charges say.
Officers identified Daily as the suspect and the next day tracked him to a car wash on the 600 block of East River Road in Anoka. He was in a vehicle along with a woman he was in a relationship with, Blaine Police Chief Brian Podany said at the time.
Daily rammed several police vehicles in the parking lot but remained trapped at the scene, Podany said. It turned into an hours-long hostage situation with the woman held in the vehicle.
