Officers ID'd in Brooklyn Center fatal shooting

Minnesota BCA
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in St. Paul.
Jeffrey Thompson | MPR News file

Updated: 1:31 p.m. | Posted 7:37 a.m.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has identified the officers involved in a fatal shooting last Saturday. The three officers are: Brandon Akers, who's been with the department for eight years; Steven Holt, a five-year veteran; and Cody Turner, a 10-year veteran.

Brooklyn Center police responded to a domestic 911 call on Aug. 31 involving a man armed with a hammer and a knife. According to the BCA, when police arrived, they attempted to physically restrain 21-year-old Kobe Dimock-Heisler. The officers tased him, but the BCA said in a statement that the tasers were “ineffective."” Shortly after, the BCA says Dimock-Heisler produced a knife.

Officers Akers and Turner then shot Dimock-Heisler, who died at the scene. The officers were wearing body cameras that captured the incident. No one else was injured and all three officers are on standard administrative leave.

Dimock-Heisler had previously been diagnosed with depression and had been hospitalized several times this year, after attempting to hurt himself.

In March, according to state records, he was committed to the psychiatric unit of a local hospital; he had stabbed himself in the belly after getting into a disagreement with his father. It came after medical staff described him as appearing “increasingly depressed, hopeless, [and] lonely.”

In January, he threatened to kill himself and then ran toward a bridge; he was admitted to the hospital after that. He also reportedly swallowed an entire bottle of an antidepressant medication. Relatives have told KARE 11 that Dimock-Heisler had autism. The family, speaking through an attorney, declined to comment.

The BCA continues to investigate the incident. Once the investigation is complete, the BCA will hand over its findings to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for review.

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