3 shot dead during domestic dispute call in Minnesota

WASHINGTON — Two police officers and a first responder were shot and killed early on Sunday in the US state of Minnesota, after answering a call about domestic dispute in a house with multiple children inside, authorities said.

The shooter, who has not yet been publicly identified, is dead, and the seven children — ranging in age from 2 to 15 — were all safely rescued, state officers said, declining to provide information on how the shooter died.

The policemen, both aged 27, and a 40-year-old fire department paramedic were shot dead as they responded to what Minnesota Governor Tim Walz described as "a call of a family in danger" from a home in Burnsville, a city just south of Minneapolis.

"This is heartbreaking," Walz told a news conference on Sunday evening, joined by several other public officials.

Another officer was shot during the gunfire exchange and has been hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

Emergency dispatch received a call at about 1:50 am on Sunday from inside a Burnsville home, where "a man was reported to be armed and barricaded with family members", Drew Evans, superintendent at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said.

Negotiations lasted for hours before the suspect opened fire, Evans said. The suspect had several guns and large amounts of ammunition, and shot at police officers from multiple positions within the home.

Shootings are common in the United States, where there are more guns than people and about one-third of adults own a firearm.

A shooting at a Waffle House restaurant in Indianapolis early Monday morning killed a woman and wounded five other victims, police said.

Officers responded to a report of a shooting at the restaurant on Lynhurst Drive around 12:30 am, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement.

Police found five victims with gunshot wounds who were transported to a hospital, including a woman who was in critical condition and died at the hospital.

Investigators believe an altercation between two groups of people at the restaurant escalated to gunfire. It was not immediately clear if any of the victims fired shots, police said.

No arrests were immediately made after the shooting as police continued to investigate.

Agencies Via Xinhua