Man Shot, Killed By Police Had Violent Criminal History
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - The man who was shot and killed by St. Paul Police has been identified as Marcus Golden.
St. Paul Police say a man drove his vehicle at officers in the parking lot on University Avenue East. Investigators paid particular attention to the burned-out SUV that appears to have collided with a car.
Just after 2 a.m. Wednesday, someone placed a 911 call saying the car of a man sending death threats to an ex-girlfriend was spotted in the parking lot of the public housing apartment.
That suspect had been known to carry a gun. Soon after police arrived, neighbors heard the shots.
"I just heard pow, pow, pow, pow," Ernest Griffin said.
Hours later, St. Paul police posted on Twitter that a firearm was found at the scene.
Golden has a history with police. According to a 2012 police report, he was accused of threatening an ex-girlfriend. Officers found a gun on him in that case. Golden pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor weapons charge.
And last November, Golden was arrested again for making terroristic threats. The police report states he "made threats to kill the arresting officers."
The alleged victim was Mike Elton, the father of an ex-girlfriend of Golden's.
"When my daughter broke up with him, he threatened he was going to kill me," Elton said.
Elton said Golden threw a brick through his apartment window several times. And he said he caught Golden on camera running from the scene. When Elton saw the shooting on the news, he suspected the man killed by police was Golden.
"He kept doing this over and over again to different people," Elton said. "At least the other people that he threatened can feel at peace now."
The NAACP is calling for an independent investigation of the shooting. A representative has been in touch with Golden's family, who has plans to talk about the shooting on Thursday.
