2 dead, 1 injured in Stillwater shooting

2 dead, 1 injured in Stillwater shooting

By Brittany Falkers

            Two people are dead in an officer-involved shooting at a Stillwater apartment complex, police told Associated Press reporters. 

            The building's caretaker, 62, was wounded in the abdomen.  She was conscious and able to indicate that she had been shot by her husband, according to the Star Tribune. 

            Kathleen Gavegnano found her neighbor Friday afternoon.  "She said, 'If he dies, I want to dies,'" Gavegnano told the Star Tribune.  

            The woman's husband, also 62, was shot and killed by a Stillwater police officer after he refused to put down his gun and fired at the officers, officials told the Star Tribune.

            The wife was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital in St. Paul.  Another woman was taken to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater with minor injuries, according to Associated Press reporters.

            Neighbors identified the couple as Gertrude (Trudy) and Gerald Propps.  The second woman was the adult daughter of one of the Proppses, neighbors said, adding that Gerald Propps had been battling a number of illnesses recently, the Star Tribune said.

            The incident happened at the Victoria Villa apartments, 1451 S. Greeley St.  It began about 4:30 p.m.  Washington County dispatcher received a 911 call from the 62-year-old woman because her husband needed medical care, Stillwater police Sgt. Jeff Stender told the Star Tribune.  While the woman was on the phone with the police, the dispatcher heard gunshots, and the woman was shot he added.

            One officer "arrived before everyone else and responded how he's been trained," Stender told the Star Tribune.

            The officer "did enter the apartment under fire," he added, and was forced to shoot after the man refused the officer's order to drop his weapon.  The officer is a 15-year, full-time veteran of the force and was put on standard administrative leave, the Star Tribune said.