At 9:17 a.m. Thursday a call was placed to the Dakota Commutations Center warning that a man was planning on bringing a toy gun to the Dakota County Northern Service Center for the purpose of threatening police in attempt to be killed. The building at 1 West Mendota Road in West St. Paul contains a number of Dakota County officers and two courtrooms. It was locked down for search until the suspect was found inside.
West St. Paul Police and Dakota County Sheriff's Office officers responded to the center with the name of a possible suspect. A photo of the suspect was obtained. Ad Sheriff's Office detective assigned to the NSC had seen the suspect approximately five minutes earlier inside the building. The suspect did have access to weapons, but was not seen with one.
The building was placed in lock down and a systematic search of the building was conducted by approximately 40 police officers from West St Paul, Dakota County Sheriff's, South St Paul, Inver Grove Heights, Mendota Heights and the Minnesota State Patrol law enforcement agencies.
A search team located the suspect in a third floor office of the NSC at 10:35 a.m. The suspect, a 53-year-old male from Inver Grove Heights, was taken into custody without incident.
No staff or officers were injured. The case remains under investigation with the West St. Paul Police Department and the Dakota County Sheriff's Office.
