No charges against St. Paul police officer who killed man during shooting, district attorney says

St. Paul, Minnesota – No charges will be filed against a St. Paul police officer who killed a man in a shooting last year, the Ramsey County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

The law firm stated in a memorandum that under Minnesota state law, “Officer (Michael) Tschida’s use of deadly force against Mr. (Brandon) Keys was justified.”

According to footage from St. Paul Police, Keys fired the first shots at Tschida on Dec. 7, 2023. Tschida returned fire, hitting Keys in the head, police said. Keys was hospitalized and died the next day.

On the day of the shooting, police responded to Cretin and Marshall streets after a woman called 911 to report she was being followed by a man she had a protection order against. The woman said she was riding in a car with a man in the passenger seat when Keys pulled up behind her and began hitting her vehicle with his. She also said Keys had a gun.

When Tschida arrived at the scene, he ordered Keys to lie on the ground, according to footage released by police. In the footage, Keys can be seen walking to his car and ducking behind the driver’s door before jumping up and shooting Tschida, hitting him in the ankle.

Tschida was hospitalized, treated and released.

The Ramsey County District Attorney’s Office, in its review of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s investigation into the shooting, concluded that Tschida followed St. Paul police use-of-force policies. The prosecutor’s office explained its decision in a memorandum:

“We further believe that Officer Tschida was objectively reasonable in his belief, based on the totality of the circumstances known to him at the time of the use of deadly force: 1) that Mr. Keys posed an imminent threat to his life and the lives of other bystanders, as specifically demonstrated by the evidence presented to us, and that he had demonstrated both the ability and opportunity to carry out that threat, which he did when he suddenly and without warning shot the officer; and 2) that it was reasonably likely that Mr. Keys would be killed or suffer serious bodily harm if he did not use deadly force against him without undue delay.”

Note: The above video originally aired on December 12, 2023.

Resources on domestic violence: For anonymous, confidential help, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or 1-800-787-3224.