A White Bear Lake police officer was shot three times late Tuesday by a man authorities were trying to arrest in an open 2021 case charging him with assaulting his mother and threatening to shoot an officer.

The wounded veteran officer was hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday following surgery for three gunshots to the abdomen, White Bear Lake Police Chief Julie Swanson said in a statement. She did not provide additional details about the officer.

“Thankfully his injuries were not life-threatening,” Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher wrote Wednesday on his “Live on Patrol” Facebook page.

The shooting suspect — 33-year-old Daniel Holmgren — was arrested after an hours-long standoff with authorities at his apartment and then booked into the Ramsey County jail early Wednesday on suspicion of attempted murder. He is also being held on an outstanding Ramsey County warrant, which was issued Jan. 18 after he missed a court hearing on the 2021 charges of felony domestic assault and two counts of felony threats of violence.

According to authorities, White Bear Lake officers and Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies were attempting to arrest Holmgren on the warrant at the Lakewood Hills apartment complex in the 3100 block of Karth Road around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. Shots were fired and the officer was struck.

Holmgren retreated into his apartment. Residents of the complex were evacuated and St. Paul police and Ramsey County sheriff’s office SWAT teams responded to the scene, Fletcher said. After more than two hours of negotiating with Holmgren to get him to surrender, a robot was used to send a chemical agent into his apartment and he crawled toward the doorway and was arrested without further incident just before 1 a.m.

Swanson said the police department would not release the names of the officers involved in the incident on Wednesday and referred questions to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is assisting in the investigation. A BCA spokesperson said Wednesday night that the agency did not have additional information to release.

Warrant case

According to court records, Holmgren has two felony criminal cases pending in court — one each in Ramsey and Dakota counties — and a history of mental illness and civil commitments.

Ramsey County District Judge Timothy Mulrooney issued a bench warrant for Holmgren’s arrest Jan. 18 after he skipped a hearing earlier in the day relating to the March 2021 charges.

According to the criminal complaint in that case, Holmgren threatened to kill his mother, shoot a White Bear Lake officer and assault the officer’s family on March 15, 2021.

White Bear Lake officers were called to the Karth Road apartment on a domestic call. Holmgren was hostile and referenced guns and shooting officers. He “squared off” with officers, but eventually complied, the complaint states.

Holmgren’s mother told officers that he called her and sounded manic and said that he was going to “kill her, chop up her body and light her on fire,” the complaint states. When she got home, Holmgren shoved her out of the apartment. She feared for her safety and called 911.

While in an officer’s squad car, Holmgren repeatedly threatened to shoot the officer, have him raped and have his children assaulted, the charges say.

On Wednesday, Holmgren appeared in court on the case. Ramsey County District Judge Paul Yang ordered that Holmgren undergo a Rule 20.01 evaluation, which is used to determine whether a defendant is capable of communicating with a defense attorney and competent to participate in criminal proceedings.

Other cases

Holmgren was charged in Dakota County with one count of threats of violence in September 2021 after he allegedly aggressively confronted two people in a car in South St. Paul, flashed gang signs at them and pulled out a pocketknife. He threatened them with the knife before they drove away, according to the complaint.

Holmgren was arrested in the area and later yelled and swore at officers. While in the back of a squad car, an officer told him not to spit. Holmgren responded to the officer, “I don’t spit, I shoot,” the complaint states.

Holmgren is currently on supervised probation after being convicted March 3, 2021, in Ramsey County of misdemeanor domestic assault for threatening to kill his mother and her boyfriend in April 2020, according to court records.

Tuesday’s shooting was the second in two days involving Minnesota law enforcement officers. On Monday, two McLeod County sheriff’s deputies were shot while trying to serve a search warrant at a home in Winsted, which is about 50 miles west of Minneapolis. The deputies suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect was found dead inside the home.