A call about a domestic dispute leads to a misunderstanding and gunfire in New Market Sunday afternoon.

The Scott County Sheriff's Department said they were called to a home on the 23000 block of Logan Avenue on reports of a fight.

Authorities told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS when no one answered the door, a deputy forced his way into the home. Once inside, authorities said a man in another room warned the deputy he had a gun.

Authorities said the deputy fired a shot and then left the house.

Once contact was made inside the home, authorities realized the people inside the home thought the deputy was an intruder and issued the warning to get him to leave.

It was later discovered, the dispute the deputy was originally called to took place at another building on the property. No one was hurt in either incident
No charges have been filed in connection with the original call. The Scott County Sheriff's Department said it is conducting an internal investigation into the use of force in this case.

The KSTP 11am news referred to this incident as a "standoff".

I'll forgive the officer being at the wrong address, I guess shit happens when you are in a hurry. However it is something that needs be addressed, at an individual and department level.

I am OK with the officer "forcing his way" into the house, because if there was some sort of a domestic situation they wouldn't answer the door and someone's life could very much be in jeapordy.

I don't understand the "fired a shot and left the house" part. It sounds bad though.

I'll forgive the officer being at the wrong address, I guess shit happens when you are in a hurry. However it is something that needs be addressed, at an individual and department level.

I am OK with the officer "forcing his way" into the house, because if there was some sort of a domestic situation they wouldn't answer the door and someone's life could very much be in jeapordy.

I don't understand the "fired a shot and left the house" part. It sounds bad though.

KSTP at 630: the homeowner says the deputy fired 5 shots. They showed the holes on the news. I think 3 shots skimmed the wall and created scratches in one wall before ending up in another.

Scott County deputy fires shots during raid on wrong house

A domestic dispute 911 call prompted a Scott County deputy to shoot after he says the occupants hollered that they had a gun. No one was injured.

By KATIE HUMPHREY, Star Tribune

A Scott County deputy responding to a call of a domestic dispute burst into a house and, when the occupants yelled that they had a gun, fired several shots.

The house, however, was the wrong building. The call had come from a second building on the property, in the 23000 block of Logan Way. No one was injured in the shooting.

"My impression is they thought that somebody was breaking into their house," Scott County Sheriff Kevin Studnicka said. "They didn't realize it was a deputy."

Studnicka said the deputy was sent to the address to respond to the disturbance call, which came in about 5 p.m. A knock on the door of the house went unanswered, so he forced his way in through the front door. Two men living in the house announced they had a gun, and the deputy fired, Studnicka said.

The deputy then left the house, and the residents called 911 to report a break-in.

A patrol sergeant en route to the address realized the miscommunication and spoke to the two men living in the house when he arrived, Studnicka said.

The men in the house did not know that people in the other building 100 to 200 yards behind the house, which Studnicka said was similar to a pole barn, had called 911.

Joe Toivola said Monday that his ex-girlfriend, who had been staying with him in the living area attached to the metal garage and pole barn, had called 911 to report a domestic dispute.

But instead of responding to that residence, the deputy went to the house on the hill in front of it.

Toivola's roommate, Justin Ashton, said he noticed that the deputy had gone to the house and tried, unsuccessfully, to wave him down toward the other residence. Toivola said it was at least half an hour later before anyone from the Sheriff's Office came down to the pole barn area.

Scott County records show that the entire property belongs to John Friedges, whose listed mailing address is in Lakeville. Toivola, who rents the pole barn residence from Friedges, said his landlord's two sons live in the house.

Toivola said he saw five bullet holes in the walls of the house, including three going up the stairs, when he visited the men Monday.

"They went through hell up there," Toivola said. "I would have felt really bad if something bad had happened to them."

Neither Friedges nor the occupants of the house could be reached for comment Monday.

The deputy, whose name Studnicka would not release, is on paid administrative leave pending the results of an investigation by the Dakota County Sheriff's Office.

Studnicka declined to speculate on why the deputy fired but said it seemed logical that he would go to the house, not the outbuilding, when called to the address.

"I don't know exactly what it is that he saw," Studnicka said. "If he felt that at some point in time he may be in a dangerous situation, he's going to draw his weapon."

Neither Toivola nor his girlfriend were arrested in connection with the domestic dispute call.

The incident comes just weeks after the city of Minneapolis agreed to a settlement of more than $600,000 for a raid on the wrong residence in 2007. In that instance, the SWAT team, acting on wrong information, exchanged fire with Vang Khan in his north Minneapolis home. Khan thought the officers were criminal intruders.

Katie Humphrey • 952-882-9056