State Troopers stand guard in the Morrison County Government Center parking lot.  Inside, police shot and killed Gordon Wheeler, Sr. who was holding 10 people hostage.  (WJON.com photo by Jim Maurice)

BCA officials say three officers involved in fatal shooting of gunman at Morrison County Government Center
by Jim Maurice, WJON News staff, and The Associated Press
 
LITTLE FALLS -- A hostage situation at the Morrison County board of commissioners meeting in Little Falls ended Tuesday morning with the gunman being shot and killed.

At an afternoon news conference, officials with the B-C-A said 60-year-old Gordon Wheeler Senior of Little Falls walked into the board room showing a gun. 

There he held several people hostage until officers shot him.

Three officers were involved in the shooting including Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel, a state trooper and a Lieutenant with the Morrison County Sheriff's Department. The trooper and Lieutenant have been put on administrative leave which is common practice with police-involved shootings.

B-C-A officials said there were 10 hostages at the time of the incident, but none were hurt.  They said Wheeler's presence at the meeting was a surprise because he was not on the agenda.

A spokesman for the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office confirms they will conduct an autopsy on the body of Gordon Wheeler Senior.  The spokesman says they didn't have custody of the body by mid-afternoon Tuesday, but he expected the autopsy to happen Wednesday.

WJON's Jim Maurice, reporting from the scene, says the hostage situation began around 10:20 Tuesday morning when Wheeler walked into the county board meeting, showed a gun that had been hidden in a red bandana and took the county commissioners hostage. 

Maurice says some county workers reported hearing some 15 shots around 10:40 this morning. 

Maurice reports the suspect was taken to the hospital around 10:50 where he was pronounced dead. 

Wheeler was well-known to the county board.  He had battled the county over several sex-oriented businesses he operated near Camp Ripley and Swanville.  He sued the county in 2007, but that lawsuit was dismissed.

Authorities closed the courthouse complex for the rest of the day Tuesday.  The government center was expected to reopen Wednesday.

RESOURCES:
AUDIO: BCA News Conference on Morrison County Shooting