Police Standoff Ends With Woman Taking Her Life

TODD COUNTY - A standoff Tuesday between a Staples woman and several Central Minnesota law enforcement agencies ended with the woman taking her own life.

Todd County authorities were called to a home along County Road 9 at about 1:20 p.m. Officers spoke with family members of the woman who said she had left the home the day before and not returned.

Police were eventually able to find the woman's car and follow footprints to a wooded area near the home. Authorities searched the area and found the victim armed with a rifle.

During talks with the distraught woman, several shots were fired, but authorities don't believe she was aiming at officers. After pleading with the woman for more than an hour to drop the rifle and come out of the woods, a final shot was heard. Officers then found her with a self-inflicted fatal gunshot wound.

The victim was identified as 51-year-old Kathleen Kruger.