# Adam Finseth *Firefighter-paramedic killed in the February 18, 2024 shooting in Burnsville, Minnesota* Adam Finseth was a firefighter-paramedic who was killed on February 18, 2024, in [[Burnsville]], [[Minnesota]], with Burnsville police officers [[Paul Elmstrand]] and [[Matthew Ruge]].[^1][^2] The three were responding to a report of a sexual assault at a home where seven children were present.[^1] The shooter, [[Shannon Gooden]], 38, had been barred for life from possessing firearms because of a 2007 Dakota County assault conviction. In 2020 he petitioned a [[Dakota County court]] to restore his gun rights. Prosecutors opposed the petition, and the court denied it.[^1] He nonetheless possessed five guns.[^1] On March 14, 2024, [[Ashley Dyrdahl]] of Burnsville was indicted for straw purchasing firearms used in the shooting.[^2] On September 10, 2025, she was sentenced to 45 months.[^3] ## Who - Adam Finseth, firefighter-paramedic, was one of three first responders killed in Burnsville on February 18, 2024.[^1][^2] - Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge were the Burnsville police officers killed in the same incident.[^1] - Shannon Gooden, 38, was the shooter. A 2007 Dakota County assault conviction had barred him from possessing firearms for life.[^1] - Ashley Dyrdahl was indicted on a straw-purchasing charge involving firearms used in the shooting, and was later sentenced.[^2][^3] ## What The responders were answering a sexual assault report at a home where seven children were present.[^1] The record sets two court outcomes beside each other. The first is the 2020 denial of Gooden's petition to restore his firearm rights.[^1] The second is the five guns he possessed despite that denial.[^1] The firearms used in the shooting became the subject of a straw-purchasing prosecution.[^2] ## When - 2007: Gooden's Dakota County assault conviction, which barred him from possessing firearms for life.[^1] - 2020: Gooden petitioned a Dakota County court to restore his gun rights. Prosecutors opposed the petition, and the court denied it.[^1] - February 18, 2024: Finseth, Elmstrand and Ruge were killed in Burnsville.[^1][^2] - March 14, 2024: Ashley Dyrdahl was indicted for straw purchasing firearms used in the shooting.[^2] - September 10, 2025: Dyrdahl was sentenced to 45 months.[^3] ## How The court did not restore Gooden's firearm rights; the 2020 petition was denied over the prosecutors' opposition.[^1] The firearms used on February 18, 2024 were the subject of the straw-purchasing indictment of Ashley Dyrdahl.[^2] Federal agencies announced and reported that prosecution.[^2][^3] The record shows the prohibition, the denial, the five guns and the straw-purchase prosecution. It does not establish how any individual sale was screened.[^1][^2] ## How many - Three first responders were killed.[^1][^2] - Seven children were present at the home.[^1] - Gooden possessed five guns.[^1] - Fox 9 reported county data showing 27 firearm-rights restoration petitions in Dakota County as of February 2024.[^1] - Dyrdahl's sentence was 45 months.[^3] ## In the at-issue record The project lists the shooting as at-issue entry AI-Dakota-029, in section II, *The Use-of-Force Ledger*, of its Dakota claims exposure matrix dated September 2, 2026.[^1] The entry places the court's 2020 denial of Gooden's restoration petition beside the five guns he had in 2024.[^1] It classifies a correctly decided prohibition that the purchase channel ignored as "a verification failure at the transaction". This classification is the project's own.[^4] The entry names as its anchor the May 2026 presidential action *Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System*. The pack does not quote that document's text.[^4] The record documents the sequence of conviction, prohibition, denied petition, possession and straw-purchase prosecution. It does not establish the reasons any person acted as they did.[^1][^2] ## Notes [^1]: Fox 9, *Burnsville gunman wanted his firearm rights restored; this is why the system blocked him* (n.d.; county data as of February 2024) — Gooden's 2007 conviction and lifetime firearm prohibition, the 2020 restoration petition and its denial, and 27 Dakota County petitions as of February 2024. It is a listed source of the project's at-issue entry AI-Dakota-029 (the killings, the seven children, the five guns). https://www.fox9.com/news/burnsville-gunman-wanted-his-firearm-rights-restored-this-is-why-the-system-blocked-him [^2]: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, *press release on the indictment of Ashley Dyrdahl for straw purchasing firearms used in the fatal shooting of three first responders* (March 14, 2024) — the indictment, its date, and the three first-responder deaths. https://www.atf.gov/news/press-releases/burnsville-woman-indicted-straw-purchasing-firearms-used-fatal-shooting-three-first [^3]: CBS News Minnesota, *report on the sentencing of Ashley Dyrdahl* (September 10, 2025) — the 45-month sentence. https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/ashley-dyrdahl-sentencing-burnsville-first-responder-shooting/ [^4]: The White House, *Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System* (May 2026) — the presidential action named as anchor of at-issue entry AI-Dakota-029. The entry's classification ("a verification failure at the transaction") is the project's own. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/05/restoring-integrity-to-americas-financial-system/