By Patrick Tepoorten

Excitement abounded in Rush City last Saturday morning as a routine traffic stop on suspicion of a stolen vehicle turned into a manhunt for a possible murder suspect.

At approximately 4:50 a.m. Corporal Scott Berg of the Chisago County Sheriffís Office was attempting to pull over a car when the carís driver led him on a short car chase before fleeing the vehicle on foot in the direction of the Amber Milling site.

Because the car had been highlighted, or ìflagged,î in the police database as related to a possible murder suspect wanted by the St. Paul Police Department, every precaution was taken. SWAT teams from the State Patrol, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), and Chisago County participated in a room by room search of the mill in pursuit of the suspect. According to Sheriff Todd Rivard, the search took more than three hours to complete.

Coincidental alarms at both Jacobson Elementary and Rush City High School complicated matters during the search. SWAT members were diverted from the mill search to also conduct room by room searches of the school district buildings.

It is not believed the alarms were caused by the suspect. Rather, the Sheriffís office believes the alarms were caused by doors left unlocked inadvertently. Another incident though, a break in attempt at a building on the Chisago County fairgrounds, was discovered by Cub scouts later in the day and is believed to be connected to the suspect.

Unknown to police on the scene, the unidentified murder suspect who was wanted by St. Paul police had committed suicide in Wisconsin two days before the manhunt in Rush City. The car had been stolen after the suspectís suicide but before the Savage Police Department had a chance to remove the flag from the vehicle identification.

This clerical error led police to treat the situation much more seriously than they might have under normal circumstances, including the presence of the three SWAT teams. In the end though, said Rivard, ìthe whole SWAT call was a big practice thing.î

The suspect was not caught on Saturday despite almost six hours of searching, but according to the Sheriffís office he has now been identified. They have not released a name though, as the suspect is not yet in custody.

Concerns were raised by community members that Saturdayís manhunt was related to an escape at the Minnesota Correctional Facility - Rush City. Rivard confirmed on Wednesday that the suspect and manhunt were entirely unrelated to the prison.