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Grand Jury Declines To Indict St. Paul Cop In Fatal Shooting

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – A grand jury cleared a Twin Cities police officer in the deadly shooting of a mentally-ill man.

St. Paul police shot 30-year-old Philip Quinn last fall. On the afternoon of Sept. 24, Philip Quinn's mother and girlfriend made a series of 911 calls.

"My boyfriend is being psychotic," Quinn's girlfriend Darleen Tareeq said to the dispatcher. "He's talking very fanatical about how he killed himself and came back to life."

When officers arrived and found Quinn in a garage, he ran a couple blocks away to an apartment, where police say he tried to break in and struggled with a man who lived inside.

"I fought my way off of him and came back into my apartment and locked the door," the man said in a 911 call.

Three hours later, Quinn's mother Paulette calls police for the last time, saying her son has returned home and can't be controlled. She tells the dispatcher he's suicidal.

"He's [expletive] scaring the hell out of me," she said in the call. "He's in the garage and he has a [expletive] screwdriver in his hand."

Paulette also tells dispatch that her son threatened to stab his girlfriend. Police arrived again, and Officer Richard McGuire finds Quinn in the garage.

"I'm waiting for K-9 to get here. Got eyes on him right now. He's wearing a black shirt," Officer McGuire said through his radio.

Seconds later, police say Quinn charged at the officer with the screwdriver before shots rang out. Quinn was shot and was later pronounced dead at Regions Hospital.

"Officer McGuire was put in a terrible situation," St. Paul Police Chief Tom Smith said. "He did everything he was trained to do and still had no other choice in this situation."

Police said an autopsy found methamphetamine in Quinn's system. He had been treated at the hospital for mental health problems six days before the shooting. Quinn also suffered from schizophrenia.

His family and girlfriend have criticized police for using deadly force.

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