Duluth police officer charged for shooting man while responding to domestic assault call

DULUTH, Minn. (FOX 9) - A Duluth, Minnesota police officer was charged with two felonies Monday for shooting a man while responding to a domestic assault call in September. 

St. Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin determined the shooting was not justified. He charged Tyler Leibfried, 28, of Hermantown with intentional discharge of a firearm that endangers the safety of another and reckless discharge of a firearm in a municipality, both felonies. Leibfried is a five-year veteran of the Duluth Police Department. 

According to the charges, Sept. 12, Leibfried responded to a possible domestic incident at the Kingsley Heights Apartments in downtown Duluth. He mistakenly thought he heard two gunshots coming from the apartment, so he fired six shots into 23-year-old Jared Fyle’s apartment door. Fyle was unarmed and the incident left him with a bullet wound in his back. 

In a statement, Rubin said Leibfried’s actions were “not an objectively reasonable use of deadly force.” 

Leibfried will now be summoned to appear for arraignment at a date yet to be determined.