Q&A: Police Chief Discusses Mendota Heights Standoff

A law enforcement response to a last Wednesday that lasted more than eight hours was a sight rarely seen in Mendota Heights.

Residents of the townhomes were evacuated and Lexington Avenue was blocked off to through traffic while the Dakota County Sheriff, State Patrol, Hastings, Apple Valley, Inver Grove Heights, Rosemount, Farmington, South St. Paul, West St. Paul, Bloomington and Burnsville police departments responded with manpower and equipment at the scene.

The when suspect, Donald Paul Richardson, age 42, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His death was confirmed by Dakota County’s Mutual Assistance Aid Group (MAAG), after a remote camera located his body.

Mendota Heights Patch had a Q&A session Friday with Police Chief Mike Aschenbrener to discuss the standoff:

Mendota Heights Patch: What was the time of death?

Police Chief Mike Aschenbrener: The Dakota County Medical Examiner has not yet released a time of death from the autopsy.

Mendota Heights Patch: How much did the whole operation cost in terms of man hours?

Police Chief Mike Aschenbrener: Police reports are still being written by all the officers that were there. There are 17 of us here (in Mendota Heights) and once all the reports come in, we're not going to tally the cost of the operation.

Mendota Heights Patch: How did police send in a camera and robot?

Police Chief Mike Aschenbrener: We used an old-fashioned technique. We took a large telephone, not necessarily a rotary phone, but just a big, heavy telephone and smacked the door down with it. Then we threw the phone inside with a speaker on it, so we could talk to the suspect. By the time the robot came from the Bloomington Bomb Squad, the door was already down, so we sent the robot in.

Mendota Heights Patch: How did law enforcement know the suspect had died?

Police Chief Mike Achenbrener: The robot had a picture. Once we saw the pictures and were certain that he was deceased, medical personnel and police went inside to confirm.

Mendota Heights Patch: What turned this situation into a standoff?

Police Chief Mike Achenbrener: In this particular case, it was a domestic assault incident that escalated into the woman calling 911 after the man said he was going to go get a gun and kill her. When she was talking to dispatch, they asked where the man was. When she said he was going to get a gun, dispatch began to try to convince the woman to leave with her child. Once she left with the child, we knew there was no one else (besides the suspect) in the house, and we knew that he was armed. There was no reason to put anyone else in harm's way or send someone in. It wasn't a hostage situation where police needed to go inside to rescue someone. So we gave him a chance to come outside. It involved time, negotiation and communication.

Mendota Heights Patch: How did police get to the scene in less than two minutes?

Police Chief Mike Achenbrener: The call came in at 4:30 p.m. We change shifts at 5 p.m. So we had the day officers getting ready to end their shift, and the evening officers were also here getting ready to start their shift. The townhomes are only six blocks from the office, so we got there at 4:31 p.m.

Mendota Heights Patch: What's next?

Police Chief Mike Achenbrener: The Dakota Advisory Committee (DAC) is taking care of things so that the woman and her child can return to their home. The lawn got messed up from a squad car driving on it, there is a broken window, and the door needs to be fixed. They (the woman and the suspect) had a kid together, and she has yet a life to live there. Hopefully, she can return to her home soon.