MN Police Officer Killed While Conducting Check

COLD SPRING, Minn. (AP) - A police officer has been shot and killed while conducting a routine check on a resident in central Minnesota.

Stearns County Chief Deputy Bruce Bechtold says the male officer was killed late Thursday evening behind an apartment  above a bar in Cold Spring, near St. Cloud.

A St. Cloud Times report says a suspect has been arrested. Police have not released the names of the officer or the suspect.

Bechtold says he believes the suspect was in the residence that the officer was called to check.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating.

The last Stearns County officer killed in the line of duty was St. Joseph officer Brian Klinefelter, who was shot in 1996 while attempting to arrest three robbery suspects.

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