Police use of deadly force justified in Woodbury shooting

Police officers acted lawfully when they shot and killed a suspect outside a Target store in Woodbury in April, Washington County Attorney Kevin Magnuson said Thursday.

James Stoffel of the Woodbury Police Department and Brian Krook, a deputy with the Washington County Sheriff's Office, were authorized to fire their weapons when suspect Donald Eugene Roche pointed a high-powered air rifle designed to look like a firearm at them, the Washington County Attorney's Office said in a memorandum to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Officers encountered Roche on April 22 as he walked to his vehicle in the parking lot of the store on Valley Creek Road. He was suspected of using a stolen credit card to make fraudulent purchases, including at the Woodbury Target, court records show.

Roche got into his vehicle and police and members of the Washington County SWAT team set up a security perimeter around it. After an hour, negotiations broke down and Roche got out of his vehicle, carrying what appeared to be a revolver and pointing it at several police officers, prosecutors said.

Fearing for himself, other officers and passersby, Stoffel fired two shots, one of which hit Roche.

Roche did not surrender, but later went to Krook and pointed the revolver in his direction, the law firm said. Krook fired four shots, one of which hit Roche.

Roche was treated at the hospital for his injuries. He was later charged with two counts of second-degree assault, one count of financial transaction fraud and third-degree burglary. Roche pleaded guilty to both counts of assault in July. He will be sentenced next month.

“Mr. Roche intentionally threatened the lives of police officers in order to exploit their trained responses and compel them to use deadly force,” Magnuson said. “Fortunately, the force in this case was not fatal, but the effects of a forced response with deadly force can be very damaging to police officers and their families.”