Community Corner
Listen: 'Final Call' For The 3 Fallen Burnsville, MN 1st Responders
"All units...Ruge... Elmstrand...Finseth... have answered their final call."
![Thousands of Minnesotans turned out Wednesday to mourn Burnsville's Officer Matthew Ruge, Officer Paul Elmstrand, and firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/ap/22887410/20240228/034102/styles/patch_image/public/ap24059673597054___28151702180.jpg)
EDEN PRARIE, MN — Thousands of Minnesotans turned out Wednesday to mourn three fallen Burnsville first responders at a public safety memorial service in Eden Prarie.
At the end of the funeral, a police dispatcher conducted the "final call," a tradition honoring fallen first responders.
"All units, Officer Matthew Ruge, Badge Number 183, Officer Paul Elmstrand Badge Number 45 176, and firefighter Adam Finseth, Badge Number 83, have answered their final call," the dispatcher concluded.
Find out what's happening in Burnsvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"These men responded together, laid down their lives for one another, and died doing what they were called to do. The citizens of Burnsville will forever be in their debt. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten. May you forever rest in peace."
Watch and listen to the "final call" below:
Find out what's happening in Burnsvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Ruge, 27, Finseth, 40, and Elmstrand, 27, were fatally shot Sunday, Feb. 18, while responding to a reported sexual assault inside a Burnsville home.
Police arrived around 1:50 a.m. Sunday at the house on the 12600 block of 33rd Avenue. Subject Shannon Gooden subsequently barricaded himself in a bedroom and began firing at officers.
Gooden "used multiple different guns" and refused to cooperate with officers trying to negotiate his surrender, investigators said, killing Ruge, Finseth, and Elmstrand.
Sgt. Adam Medlicott was also injured and was released from the hospital on Monday.
A SWAT team at the scene used a drone to find the suspect and confirmed he fatally shot himself in the head in the bedroom.
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