Person apprehended after hours-long West Duluth standoff

Duluth Police say a 30-year-old man was apprehended on Friday evening after an hours-long standoff in the Spirit Valley neighborhood. Police said there were no injuries, but the man was being transported to a hospital to be checked and would later be booked into the St. Louis County Jail.

The standoff happened at an apartment building in the area of Grand Avenue and North Central Avenue, causing roads to be closed in the area for more than five hours. Police Chief Mike Tusken said the suspect, who was considered armed and dangerous, went into the building after a chase and that there were reports of shots being fired, but no injuries.

Police worked for hours to negotiate a peaceful settlement.

“Our officers were…negotiating with him via cell phone and trying to bring him in peacefully. Then that’s when we used non-lethal tactics to bring him in peacefully with no injuries to him or our officers,” said Public Information Officer Mattie Hjelseth.

The standoff ended around 8:30 p.m.

Police said the person is a suspect in multiple crimes in both Duluth and Superior on Friday, including an attempted armed bank robbery and a car theft.

Tusken said a suspect vehicle led police on a chase in Duluth that officers terminated because it was unsafe to continue. Then, officers in the Lincoln Park neighborhood spotted the vehicle again and the chase resumed, ending on Grand Avenue near 57th Avenue West.

A police social media post said the individual was “showing complete disregard to human safety.”

Meanwhile, Piedmont Elementary sent a note to parents informing them that the school had secured its doors due to police response to a community incident in the area of the school on Friday afternoon. It was not immediately known if this was related to the other crimes.

Hermantown Police Department, Saint Louis County Sheriffs Department, Superior Police Department, Minnesota State Patrol, and DPD’s Tactical Response Team are working together at the scene.