Minnesota woman accused of arming felon who gunned down 3 first responders

BURNSVILLE, Minn. — A Minnesota woman is facing federal charges for allegedly purchasing the firearms that her longtime partner used last month to gun down two police officers and a firefighter paramedic.

Ashley Anne Dyrdahl, 35, of Burnsville, is accused of using her name to purchase at least five guns for Shannon Cortez Gooden. Gooden, 38, was legally barred from owning firearms because of a prior felony conviction, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota said in a news release.

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Gooden used two of the guns — both AR-15-style semiautomatic weapons — to kill Burnsville police officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27 years old, and city fire medic Adam Finseth, 40, before taking his own life.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said Thursday that authorities had spent the weeks since the shooting investigating how Gooden had obtained the weapons.

Luger said Dyrdahl’s alleged “illegal buying spree for Gooden demonstrates a reprehensible disregard for public safety and the law, and the consequences of this disregard for public safety are beyond comprehension,” according to The Associated Press.

It was just before 2 a.m. on Feb. 18 when police officers responded to a call regarding a domestic disturbance at the home the couple shared with seven children, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Responding officers, including Elmstrand and Ruge, spoke with Gooden, who claimed to be unarmed.

Investigators would later find a stockpile of loaded magazines and hundreds of rounds of live ammunition in the couple’s bedroom.

For three and a half hours, the officers tried to negotiate Gooden’s peaceful surrender. Just before 5:30 a.m., Gooden opened fire without warning, BCA officials said.

Elmstrand, Ruge and a third officer, Sgt. Adam Medlicott, were shot. Ruge and Medlicott were shot again as the officers retreated to an armored vehicle parked in the home’s driveway.

Finseth was gunned down as he tried to render medical aid to the wounded officers, according to authorities.

Medlicott survived his wounds, but Elmstrand, Finseth and Ruge were pronounced dead at Hennepin County Medical Center.

Gooden continued to fire at officers before turning one of his guns on himself. His body was found as SWAT officers cleared the home eight hours after the first officers arrived.

In total, Gooden fired more than 100 rounds at first responders that morning, according to police and court records.

An indictment states that Dyrdahl, who had been in a relationship with Gooden since 2016, knew of his status as a convicted felon and, in 2020, acknowledged his prior conviction in a letter supporting Gooden’s bid to regain his right to own firearms. That bid was unsuccessful.

Gooden had been convicted in 2008 of second-degree assault in Dakota County, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Despite knowing that Gooden could not own or possess weapons, Dyrdahl conspired with him between September 2023 and January 2024 to buy five weapons from two separate federally-licensed firearms dealers.

“Gooden sent text messages to Dyrdahl of firearms he wanted her to purchase,” the news release said. “Dyrdahl placed the orders at FFLs (federal firearms licensees) and filled out ATF Forms 4473 falsely attesting that she was the actual buyer of the firearm, and falsely attesting that she was not planning to transfer the firearm to a felon.

“During a text exchange between Dyrdahl and Gooden discussing background checks and other questions from firearm sellers, Dyrdahl told Gooden, ‘We just gotta make sure we’re smart about all this, ya know?’”

On Feb. 10, about a week before the shootings, Gooden went to a shooting range. While there, he and Dyrdahl exchanged texts in which he told her how much he loved one of the guns he would later use to kill the officers and paramedic.

“It’s nasty, bae,” Gooden texted, according to the indictment.

“Hell yeah,” Dyrdahl responded.

“Thanks for making me so happy,” Gooden wrote.

A federal grand jury has indicted Dyrdahl on a total of 11 charges, including conspiracy and multiple charges each of straw purchasing and giving a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.

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