Officers working inside the building on Sunday evening, January 10, heard what sounded like a muffled gunshot outside. They found a shattered glass door on the side of the building and a squad car with a broken window. Chief Jim Mork says it appears to be one gunshot fired from nearby North Road, that ricocheted off the car and into the building. Fortunately, nobody was in the car.
“The round came in at a real sharp angle, shattered out the window and then did some damage at the seat belt area,” said Chief Mork. “There is a piece of shrapnel and glass that has shattered throughout the interior of the squad car, and the screen on the laptop is damaged as well.”
Video from a recently installed camera system showed a white pickup truck that had stopped on North Road. An officer looking at the security footage saw the squad window explode and the truck drive off. While officers were outside investigating, Mork says a truck matching the description of the truck returned and they tried to flag it down. The truck did not stop and officers found it in a nearby driveway, according to the criminal complaint.
Donald Guse
“When they had him step out to conduct field sobriety tests, a spent shotgun cartridge fell out to the ground,” says Mork.
Police arrested 51 year old Donald Guse of Shoreview. He faces multiple charges including drive-by shooting, reckless discharge of a firearm, and fleeing an officer. The criminal complaint says officers found a scoped shotgun in the back seat. According to the complaint, Guse says he was trying to shoot the tire of the squad. Police say they don’t know what the motive might have been, but they have had contact with Guse before.
They’re relieved the damage wasn’t any worse than it was.
“Fortunately our officer was inside at that time doing paper work and not sitting in the squad car. because it really could have been a tragedy,” said Mork.
Records show Guse has multiple convictions in several counties. He was also once a volunteer firefighter for the cities of Roseville in the 1990’s. The fire chief in Shafer said at one time he was also a firefighter there.
