15 September 2024
POLK COUNTY, Minn. — The Polk County Attorney’s Office has found no wrongdoing by police in the death of an East Grand Forks man who was fatally shot Jan. 9.
In late June, the attorney’s office received the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s full report detailing its investigation into the incident. Reviewing the documentation thoroughly for any potential wrongful acts was a months-long process, as previously reported by the Herald.
In a letter addressed to BCA Special Agent Dan Byron on Thursday, Sept. 12, which was shared with the media Friday afternoon, Sept. 13,
Polk County Attorney Greg Widseth said he found no basis for filing criminal charges against any of the officers involved in the incident. This includes East Grand Forks Police Sgt. Aeisso Schrage, who caused the death of 42-year-old Lucas Paul Gilbertson by shooting him multiple times.
Gilbertson was transferred to Altru Hospital, where he later died in an operating room, the letter said.
Schrage is the only person who used deadly force against Gilbertson. Schrage was undercover at the time and therefore not wearing a body camera, so what the public has been able to glean about the incident through video footage has been limited.
“The issue then is whether an objectively reasonable officer would have believed, based upon the totality of the circumstances known to the officer at the time and without the benefit of hindsight, that deadly force was necessary to protect himself or another from death or great bodily harm,” Widseth wrote. “In viewing all of the evidence in this case, I conclude that the use of deadly force by Sgt. Schrage was justified and immediately necessary in this case based upon the totality of circumstances.”
At the time of the incident, Gilbertson had more than a dozen criminal charges pending in Polk County relating to theft, firearm and drug possession. There was more than one warrant out for his arrest.
Widseth states in the letter that law enforcement had made two earlier attempts to arrest Gilbertson — once in August 2023 and again in October 2023 — and were unsuccessful. During the second attempt, Gilbertson allegedly threw a mirror and pushed a dresser down the stairs toward officers before he fled.
In November 2023, someone told a deputy Gilbertson thought the EGFPD was out to get him and meant to hurt or kill him. Gilbertson “said that he would not go alone and would take someone with him,” the letter said.
He also allegedly said he thought police were trying to have sexual relations with his wife and had been stealing his property. He expressed wanting to purchase a car to get out of the state of Minnesota, according to the letter.
On Jan. 8, a known individual reported seeing Gilbertson at his mother’s Rhinehart Township residence that morning driving a snowmobile, wearing camouflage and appearing to be on drugs due to his movements.
The next day, the individual reported they believed Gilbertson was once again at the residence.
“Gilbertson had established by his conduct that he was not going to allow himself to be arrested on the outstanding warrants since he already had forfeited $72,000 in bonds, was facing 20 or more years in prison if he was convicted on the pending charges, had fled from law enforcement officers on multiple occasions, and was apparently seeking to flee the state,” Widseth wrote in his letter.
There was also evidence Gilbertson could be armed, as he had been in the past. Due to all the cumulative information officers had, they considered Gilbertson armed, dangerous, a flight risk and a serious threat to public safety, the letter said.
Arriving at the Rhinehart Township residence, law enforcement had a uniformed deputy knock on the door to speak with Gilbertson’s mother and inquire about whether her son was there. After some conversation, she asked the deputy to give her five minutes. Officers on the scene believed it was apparent Gilbertson was inside.
At one point, Gilbertson exited a rear door of the residence, apparently attempting to flee on a snowmobile parked nearby. Confronted by officers, he ran back inside. One of the people who’d been inside the residence with Gilbertson advised law enforcement that he had a gun.
Officers repeatedly advised Gilbertson to surrender, but he refused. They entered the residence from both the back and front entrances.
Schrage reported he was confronted by Gilbertson in the hallway. Gilbertson pointed the gun directly at Schrage, calling him by name and swearing at him, the letter said.
Schrage first unsuccessfully attempted to tase Gilbertson — which a non-police witness corroborated.
Gilbertson fled into a bedroom and out of Schrage’s sight.
“Unknown to Sgt. Schrage, upon retreating into the bedroom, Lucas Gilbertson had thrown the handgun out of a bedroom window,” the letter said. “Sgt. Schrage reported that Lucas Gilbertson then rushed out towards him, and he shot Lucas Gilbertson.”
The gun Gilbertson threw out the window was later determined to be a silver .357 revolver that was fully loaded with live ammunition.
There were mere seconds between the time Gilbertson threw the gun out of the window and when he was shot, and there is no evidence that Schrage knew he was unarmed, the letter said.
“More importantly, Lucas Gilbertson did not indicate in any way that he was unarmed at that point in time or that he intended to voluntarily surrender,” Widseth wrote.
Gilbertson was shot at six times and struck four.
In his letter, Widseth writes that a few individuals have suggested Schrage intended to kill Gilbertson from the outset that day, but that suggestion is not supported by any evidence.
Squad car video taken from in front of the residence shows that, when Schrage entered the home, he was holding only his taser, the letter said. Additionally, Schrage was among those who immediately tried to render aid to Gilbertson after he’d been shot.
“There is no dispute that Lucas Gilbertson’s death was a tragedy, but the evidence establishes that it was his own voluntary actions (refusing to obey the law and court orders, pointing a loaded revolver directly at Sgt. Schrage, and retreating into the bedroom and then rushing out towards Sgt. Schrage) and inactions (refusing to comply with the officers’ commands and to surrender peacefully despite being given multiple opportunities to do so) that ultimately lead to his death,” Widseth wrote. “Law enforcement officers have a dangerous job, and no officer is required to wait for a suspect to shoot first when dealing with an armed suspect who has made clear he has no intent to surrender and appears willing to kill others in order to avoid going back to prison, as the evidence (demonstrates) Lucas Gilbertson was on January 9, 2024.”
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