# Shannon Gooden *Man identified as the shooter in the February 18, 2024 Burnsville killing of two police officers and a firefighter-paramedic; a Dakota County court had denied his 2020 petition to restore his firearm rights.* Shannon Gooden, 38, is identified as the shooter in the February 18, 2024 incident in [[Burnsville]], [[Minnesota]]. In that incident, Burnsville police officers [[Paul Elmstrand]] and [[Matthew Ruge]] and firefighter-paramedic [[Adam Finseth]] were killed while answering a sexual assault report at a home where seven children were present.[^1] The federal straw-purchase case that followed concerned firearms used in the fatal shooting of three first responders.[^2] A 2007 assault conviction in Dakota County had barred Gooden for life from possessing firearms. In 2020 he asked a [[Dakota County court]] to restore his gun rights. Prosecutors opposed the petition, and the court denied it. He nonetheless had five guns.[^1] On March 14, 2024, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced the indictment of [[Ashley Dyrdahl]], a Burnsville woman, for straw purchasing.[^2] She was sentenced to 45 months on September 10, 2025.[^3] The record assembled here does not establish any charge, proceeding or outcome against Gooden himself arising from the shooting.[^1] ## Who Gooden was 38 at the time of the February 18, 2024 shooting.[^1] Three people were killed: Burnsville officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge and firefighter-paramedic Adam Finseth.[^1][^2] Ashley Dyrdahl of Burnsville is named in the federal straw-purchase indictment.[^2] ## What In 2007 Gooden was convicted of assault in Dakota County. That conviction carried a lifetime bar on possessing firearms.[^1] In 2020 he petitioned a Dakota County court to restore his firearm rights. Prosecutors opposed the petition, and the court denied it.[^1] On February 18, 2024 he had five guns.[^1] ## When - 2007: Dakota County assault conviction carrying the lifetime firearm prohibition.[^1] - 2020: Gooden's petition to restore his gun rights, opposed by prosecutors and denied by the court.[^1] - February 18, 2024: the Burnsville shooting.[^1] - March 14, 2024: ATF announces the straw-purchase indictment of Ashley Dyrdahl.[^2] - September 10, 2025: Dyrdahl is sentenced to 45 months.[^3] ## Where The shooting took place at a home in Burnsville. Officers and a firefighter-paramedic had gone there in response to a sexual assault report, and seven children were present.[^1] Dakota County was the venue of the 2007 conviction and of the 2020 restoration petition.[^1] ## How Gooden held five guns despite the lifetime prohibition and the 2020 denial.[^1] The federal response was a straw-purchasing indictment of Ashley Dyrdahl over firearms used in the fatal shooting of three first responders. That indictment ended in a 45-month sentence.[^2][^3] The record does not set out which of the five guns the indictment covered or how each was obtained.[^2] ## How many - Five guns in Gooden's possession.[^1] - Three people killed: two police officers and one firefighter-paramedic.[^1][^2] - Seven children present at the home.[^1] - 27 petitions filed in Dakota County as of February 2024, according to county data reported by Fox 9.[^1] - 45 months: Dyrdahl's sentence.[^3] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue entry places two documented outputs side by side. The first is a court ruling: the 2020 denial of Gooden's restoration petition, which prosecutors opposed. The second is the five guns he had in February 2024.[^1] The project anchors the entry to a May 2026 White House presidential action, *Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System*.[^4] The entry classes the case as a correctly decided prohibition that was not enforced at the point of purchase. That classification is the project's own, not a finding of any court or agency. The sources establish the denial, the five guns and the straw-purchase prosecution.[^1][^2][^3] ## Notes [^1]: Fox 9, *Burnsville gunman wanted his firearm rights restored. This is why the system blocked him* (news report, date not given in the record). Establishes the February 18, 2024 shooting and victims, Gooden's 2007 conviction, the 2020 restoration petition and denial, the five guns, and the Dakota County figure of 27 petitions as of February 2024. 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 a Burnsville woman for straw purchasing firearms used in the fatal shooting of three first responders (March 14, 2024). Establishes the indictment of Ashley Dyrdahl. 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 (sentence of September 10, 2025). Establishes 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* (presidential action, May 2026). Establishes the federal instrument the project's at-issue entry uses as its anchor. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/05/restoring-integrity-to-americas-financial-system/