Officers Identified In Columbia Heights Police-Involved Shooting
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The names of the officers who fired their weapons in a Columbia Heights shooting that killed a 45-year-old Montrose man have been released.
On Tuesday morning on the 700 block of 40th Avenue Northeast, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says officers fired their guns when a man with a weapon refused to cooperate.
"Our officers in Columbia Heights were dispatched to a report of a woman who was running, asking for help," Columbia Heights Police Chief Scott Nadeau said.
That woman was Jamie Castilla. She says she is the sister of the man police shot and killed inside the cleaning service business that she owns. She says his name was 45-year-old Michael Kirvelay, and he showed up at the door of her business as she and her two sisters and a friend were packing up, preparing to move.
Castilla says Kirvelay appeared emotionally distressed, so she ran to the nearby police station for help. When officers arrived they confronted Kirvelay, who she says was holding a BB gun.
The BCA is handling the investigation and says the man produced a weapon and then refused the officers' calls to show his hands. That is when they fired. Kirvelay died at the scene.
Those officers were identified Wednesday as Sgt. Erik Johnston of the Columbia Heights Police Department and Officer Shawn Murphy of the Fridley Police Department.
The BCA's investigation into the incident is ongoing.
