Sheriff: Cop Killer Would've Faced 1st-Degree Murder Charges
ST. PAUL (WCCO) -- An investigation into the shooting death of a Lake City Police officer last December has found the gunman would've been charged with first-degree murder had he not killed himself.
Patrol Officer Shawn Schneider, 32, was shot in the head on Dec. 19 by 25-year-old Alan J. Sylte while responding to a domestic disturbance involving a handgun in Lake City.
Schneider, who served the Lake City Police Department since 2003, was survived by his wife and three children.
A 17-year-old girl who escaped the house said she had broken up with Sylte the week before.
On Tuesday, the Wabasha County Attorney's Office said that, had Sylte not shot himself to death in the incident, he would have faced charges of first-degree murder of a peace officer and first-degree premeditated murder.
Before Schneider's murder, Lake City's police force had not had an officer shot since the late 1970s.
