[b0] Two St. Paul police officers were legally justified when they shot and wounded a suspected car thief who pointed a handgun at them last December, the Ramsey County Attorney's Office announced, closing out a nine-month review of a shooting that began with a remotely disabled stolen car on a highway ramp and ended with 33-year-old Elliot Samuels Vaughn with a bullet wound to his thigh.
According to a report from the Pioneer Press, the incident started at 5:39 a.m. on Dec. 21, 2025, when a tracker showed a Buick Envista had been taken from a vehicle rental company's parking garage in Minneapolis. The company also reported that two other vehicles were stolen from the same garage around the same time, according to Bring Me The News.
General Motors began tracking the Buick electronically at about 3 p.m. that afternoon, per the Pioneer Press report, and notified St. Paul police that the vehicle was being driven in the city. Officers Matthew Foy and Byron Treangen III were told by a 911 dispatcher that the Buick was near them at about 3:13 p.m., and two minutes later, GM remotely slowed and stopped the vehicle near the Interstate 94 west exit ramp off U.S. 52.
A Foot Pursuit Turns Into Gunfire
[b4] Vaughn had driven the Buick southbound across the U.S. 52 bridge before exiting and getting back onto the highway, then headed north, according to the Pioneer Press account. Once the car rolled to a stop, Vaughn exited the driver's seat while a woman passenger exited from the other side. Officers said Vaughn ran in the middle of the ramp toward Interstate 94 while they remained in their police SUV, and he was reportedly about 10 feet from the vehicle.
Foy and Treangen reported they saw Vaughn reach for something near his waist with his right hand, then pull a handgun from his waist area and point it at them, per the Pioneer Press. Vaughn then allegedly switched the black handgun from his right hand to his raised left hand. Officers fired multiple rounds at Vaughn from inside their SUV, and Foy exited the parked squad car and fired his Glock 17 handgun at Vaughn as well.
Treangen has said he had to fire approximately 15 bullets to pierce the windshield and stop what he described as the threat of Vaughn firing his handgun, according to the Pioneer Press report. Body camera and dashcam video released by St. Paul police showed Treangen firing through the front windshield from the passenger seat as the disabled Buick rolled backward and struck the police vehicle's door, as reported by Police1.
Officers Stopped Firing When Vaughn Went Down
Treangen stopped shooting after seeing Vaughn fall on his stomach and put his arms up and to the side, while Foy stopped shooting after seeing Vaughn on the ground without a gun in his hand, according to the Pioneer Press. St. Paul officers were shot in his right leg and wounded in the thigh, and officers provided immediate medical aid to Vaughn at the scene before he was treated at Regions Hospital.
Investigators recovered a loaded Smith & Wesson 9mm Luger handgun containing a live round in the chamber and a full magazine on the roadway near where Vaughn fell, according to FOX 9. A bullet fired by Treangen was found between Vaughn's leg and his underwear, and Vaughn's DNA matched the profile found on the black handgun recovered next to him, the Pioneer Press reported.
Statements from Foy and Treangen were corroborated by in-squad and body-worn camera footage, according to the Pioneer Press. St. Paul police publicly released that body-worn and in-squad camera footage on Dec. 31, 2025, ten days after the shooting occurred, per FOX 9's reporting. At the time, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Foy had 11 years of law enforcement experience and Treangen had six years, and both were placed on critical incident leave during the state investigation.
Legal Standard and Charges Vaughn Now Faces
The Ramsey County Attorney's Office memo found that each officer properly and reasonably considered the totality of the circumstances before and during the use of deadly force against Vaughn. That determination rests on Minn. Stat. § 609.066, which authorizes Minnesota peace officers to use deadly force only when an objectively reasonable officer would believe, based on the totality of circumstances without hindsight, that such force is necessary to protect against death or great bodily harm, according to the Minnesota Revisor's Office.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi's office issued a legal memorandum in Vaughn's case, as CBS News has previously detailed in reporting on another Ramsey County case. Vaughn was charged with two counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and one count of motor vehicle theft, and the Ramsey County Attorney's Office additionally charged him with first-degree assault for allegedly attempting to use deadly force against the two officers.
That first-degree assault charge carries a maximum statutory penalty of up to 20 years in prison upon conviction, according to CBS News. Vaughn posted a $200,000 bond in March 2026, and his jury trial is scheduled to begin Monday.
Part of a Broader Pattern in St. Paul
[b16] The case involves a St. Paul police shooting and its aftermath. In January 2024, the St. Paul Police Department established a dedicated Non-Fatal Shooting Unit to treat non-fatal gun violence with homicide-level resources, a shift Hoodline previously reported helped raise the department's non-fatal shooting clearance rate from 38% in 2023 to roughly 70% in 2024 and 2025. Separately, questions about police shootings and their aftermath remain part of the local conversation.
