Duluth police responded to a shooting about 10:30 p.m. Saturday at 227 W. Third St.
A News Tribune reporter and photographer saw police cordon off the block bounded by Third and Fourth streets and Second and Third avenues west as they collected evidence inside the home. An officer left the house about 11 p.m. carrying a rifle - muzzle down and with her hand outside the usual grip and trigger area.
Neighbors said they first heard shots shortly after 10 p.m.
Mandi Szymczak and Ryan Whitworth said at first they weren't sure whether they were hearing gunshots or fireworks, so they stepped out of their apartment on the end of the block to investigate. They saw police arrive within minutes and begin searching the area with flashlights and at least one police dog. Two ambulances soon were on scene.
Szymczak and Whitworth said they were standing on the sidewalk about three houses down from 227 W. Third when they saw officers confront a man hiding under a tree, and then they saw an officer subdue the man with a stun gun or Taser.
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"I heard the pop from the Taser and saw the strings from the Taser," Whitworth said.
They said they saw that man quickly treated and then taken away.
About the same time another person was taken from the house on a stretcher, Szymczak and Whitworth said. The person on the stretcher appeared to be moving.
Shortly after the ambulance left with the person from the house, several eyewitnesses, including a News Tribune photographer, reported hearing what at first sounded like half a dozen more shots. Later those witnesses said the second set of shots probably were fireworks; they said police on the scene did not react as if gunshots had been fired.
Police on the scene would not comment about the incident on the record beyond one short statement from Police Sgt. Pete Stauber: "It was a shooting."
Stauber said more information would be released today.
Check back to duluthnewstribune.com for updates later today.
