ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — A suspect in a domestic incident who was being treated at a Minnesota hospital grabbed a gun from a sheriff's deputy and killed the officer early Sunday, prompting hospital security officers to subdue the suspect with a stun gun, authorities said. 
 
 The BCA mobile command center sits outside St. Cloud Hospital Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015, after an early morning incident where a sheriff deputy was fatally shot, in St. Cloud. Minn. Authorities say a suspect... (Associated Press) 
 
 Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, describes how an inmate fatally shot deputy Steven Sandberg at St. Cloud Hospital, as Aitkin County Sheriff Scott Turner, left,... (Associated Press) 
 
 After the suspect was taken into custody he died, despite efforts by medical personnel to revive him. 
 
 The struggle happened early Sunday at St. Cloud Hospital in the suspect's room, said Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. He said the suspect was not handcuffed at the time. Investigators are still trying to determine what led up to the shooting. 
 
 "Several shots were fired during that struggle and then security officers were able to get into the room, and the suspect was tased with a Taser, and taken into custody," Evans said at a news conference. "After he was taken into custody he became unresponsive. Medical personnel performed lifesaving operations on him and he died at that time." 
 
 Evans said the Aitkin County deputy killed was Steven Martin Sandberg, a 60-year-old investigator with the sheriff's office. The suspect was identified as Danny Leroy Hammond, 50, who lived near the city of Aitkin. Evans said autopsies were being performed on both of them and the medical examiner would determine more about how the suspect died. 
 
 The superintendent said Hammond was subdued by two hospital security guards with the help of another Aitkin County deputy, who had just arrived to relieve Sandberg. 
 
 Sandberg had been with department since 1981 and an investigator for 20 years, Aitkin County Sheriff Scott Turner said. 
 
 Evans and hospital vice president Kurt Otto declined to say why Hammond was being treated at the hospital in St. Cloud, which is about 60 miles northwest of Minneapolis. Otto said the hospital had asked the sheriff's office to send deputies to monitor Hammond because of the "seriousness" of the domestic incident, which happened sometime earlier in the week. They would not say how long Hammond had been in the hospital except that it was more than a day. 
 
 He said investigators had a lot of work ahead of them, including interviewing hospital staffers who were on duty at the time. 
 
 Hammond had been convicted of felony crimes including escaping from custody in 1990, third-degree burglary in 1989 and terrorist threats in 1990, according to court records. All the convictions were for crimes committed in Aitkin County. 
 
 Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton condemned the deputy's death and offered condolences to his family. 
 
 "I deplore the terrible, senseless murder of Deputy Sheriff Steven Sandberg," Dayton said in a statement. 
 
 A woman answering the phone at Sandberg's home said nobody from the family was ready to comment. Hammond's home does not have a listed phone number. 

 A violent “whirlwind of events” in a St. Cloud Hospital room early Sunday morning left two men dead, including a 24-year veteran of the Aitkin County sheriff’s office. 
 
 The man who shot him was tased by another sheriff’s deputy and died at the scene, authorities said. 
 
 “A suspect being treated at St. Cloud Hospital shot and killed a sheriff’s deputy who had been monitoring the welfare of the suspect who was a subject of an investigation outside the St. Cloud tri-county area,” said Jill Oliveira, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). 
 
 The BCA said the incident was confined to the suspect’s hospital room, and no one else was injured. 
 
 The deputy was identified as Steven M. Sandberg, 60, who had been with the Sheriff’s Office since 1991 and working as an investigator for the past 20 years. 
 
 The suspect was Danny Leroy Hammond, 50, BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said during a news conference in St. Cloud. Hammond, of rural Aitkin, was in the hospital for medical reasons following a domestic situation, Evans said. 
 
 The deputy was identified as Investigator Steven Martin Sandberg, who was 60 years old and is survived by a wife and daughter. He had worked with the Aitkin County Sheriff's Office since 1991. Photo provided by family members to KSTP. 
 
 Hammond was not in police custody, Evans said, but he was being monitored by law enforcement “at the request of St. Cloud Hospital.” He was not handcuffed, Evans added. 
 
 A struggle ensued after the suspect got out of his bed, Evans said, and Hammond got hold of Sandberg’s gun and squeezed off several rounds. 
 
 A deputy from the same Sheriff’s Office tased Hammond, and the suspect “became unresponsive,” Evans said. 
 
 Life-saving efforts were begun in the emergency room, but Hammond died, the superintendent said. 
 
 Aitkin County Sheriff Scott Turner said the incident was a “whirlwind of events in [a] very tragic situation.” 
 
 Sandberg leaves behind a wife and daughter, Turner said. 
 
 A hearse carrying Sandberg’s body from St. Cloud to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s office on Sunday afternoon was escorted by dozens of police vehicles in a motorcade along Interstate 94. 
 
 Hammond’s criminal history includes felony convictions for burglary and fleeing custody, both cases from roughly 25 years ago. 
 
 Law enforcement scanner conversation of the unfolding pre-dawn scene was captured by the MN Police Clips website. 
 
 “We do have an officer down in South 527,” came the word from the hospital to dispatch. “We have deputy that is shot … the shooter is in handcuffs.” 
 
 Dispatch described the shooter as “an inmate ... and the inmate is now in custody.” 
 
 An officer on the scene said the “guy got gun away from deputy, shot deputy” and the suspect went into cardiac arrest. 
 
 The weapon was recovered, the officer added. 
 
 In a statement issued Sunday afternoon, Gov. Mark Dayton said, “I deplore this terrible, senseless murder. ... This tragedy reminds us that Minnesota’s law enforcement officers risk their lives every day and night to keep us safe.”
– In what Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton calls a "terrible, senseless murder," a police officer was shot dead in a St. Cloud hospital room by a suspect who grabbed his gun, authorities say. The suspect, 50-year-old Danny Leroy Hammond, was subdued by a stun gun by another officer and died at the scene, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Police say Hammond, who wasn't handcuffed, was in the hospital for medical reasons and the officer was there to monitor him because of a domestic violence incident last week. KARE 11 reports that there was an arrest warrant out for Hammond over the incident, which included "kidnapping, assault, terroristic threats, and other violent offenses." Police are trying to determine how the struggle for the weapon began. "Several shots were fired during that struggle and then security officers were able to get into the room, and the suspect was tased with a Taser, and taken into custody," a police spokesman said at a press conference Sunday, per the AP. "After he was taken into custody he became unresponsive. Medical personnel performed lifesaving operations on him and he died at that time." The deputy was identified as 60-year-old Steven Sandberg, who had been with the sheriff's office for nearly 25 years. Dozens of police vehicles joined a motorcade escorting a hearse with his body from the hospital, the Star Tribune reports.