The largest police association in Minnesota selected an Anoka County sheriff’s deputy as its Officer of the Year for — while on vacation — helping a South Dakota state trooper who’d been shot at.

The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association will formally honor Deputy Tanner Shipman at its annual convention Saturday.

Anoka County Sheriff’s Deputy Tanner Shipman (Courtesy of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association)

The association announced on Thursday that two St. Paul police sergeants are receiving 2024 Officer of the Year Honorable Mention.

Sgt. Jason Giampolo, a St. Paul officer of 18 years, is being awarded for his work during the past eight years as an investigator with the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

The association also is recognizing St. Paul Police Sgt. Cody Blanshan for a December 2022 incident. As officers were looking for domestic assault suspect Howard Peter Holliday Johnson, Blanshan witnessed Johnson attempt to carjack a bystander.

Blanshan struck Johnson with his squad car, in an attempt to get him to stop, and Johnson shot at him and his police partner, authorities have said. The sergeant returned fire and Johnson died. Prosecutors determined Blanshan’s actions were legally justified.

“The innocent carjacking victim, the original victim of the domestic assault, and her children, are all safe thanks to Sgt. Blanshan’s quick and heroic actions,” said Brian Peters, Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association executive director.

Shipman, the Officer of the Year, stopped at a convenience store while on vacation in Sturgis, S.D., in August. He saw a man shooting at a South Dakota trooper and trying to leave in the trooper’s squad.

Shipman quickly retrieved his sister-in-law’s handgun and ran to the trooper to assist him. The trooper and Shipman shot the suspect and the man surrendered his weapon. The man recently pleaded guilty to attempted murder.

Anoka County Sheriff Brad Wise recognized Shipman’s “bravery, selfless service, concern for others, swift decision-making, and commitment to justice.” He’s been an Anoka County sheriff’s deputy for 18 years.

Related Articles

New Brighton: Mother, adult daughter die after house fire

Clergy abuse victim group says 5 credibly accused priests are missing from Twin Cities archdiocese public list

Minneapolis police officer killed while responding to a shooting call is remembered as a hero

Body of missing Hopkins boy found in Minnehaha Creek

Three Minnesotans killed in crash while attending family reunion in Kansas

Given extra opportunities by its opponent, Mahtomedi took advantage.

Josh Donna homered as part of a seven-run second inning, Jack Erickson finished with three hits, and the Zephyrs cruised past Northfield 8-1 Thursday in a state Class 3A baseball quarterfinal.

In the tournament for the ninth time in 10 seasons, second-seeded Mahtomedi gets unseeded Grand Rapids in a noon semifinal Friday at Chaska Athletic Park. The Thunderhawks upset No. 2 Mankato East 4-3. Mahtomedi edged Grand Rapids 3-2 in a 2023 semifinal.

“It’s gonna be fun,” Erickson said.

Austin Felling added a pair of base knocks for the Zephyrs (21-4) who have won nine in a row, scoring double digits in five of them.

“Everybody’s just putting barrels on balls. That’s what’s special about our team,” Donna said.

A pair of Northfield miscues started an onslaught that allowed the Zephyrs to take a commanding 7-0 lead in the second and play relaxed the rest of the way.

Erickson led off with a gift double misplayed by an outfielder. Thomas Becker hit a ball deep in the hole at short and Erickson narrowly beat the throw to third. A throwing error on a ground ball plated Erickson and advanced Becker to third base. He scored on a Carter Schmidtz sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

Donna followed with a two-run tailing homer that appeared to glance off the scoreboard and fall back onto the field. Amidst some momentary on-field confusion, the senior briefly stopped at second base.

“I was rounding first, and I saw the kid pick it up and throw it in. I thought I had a double but then I looked over at my coach and he signaled for a home run,” Donna said of his second round tripper this season. “I knew I got a piece of it, but I didn’t think it was going to get out.”

An RBI single by Max Strecker plated Gunnar Sather, and Erickson added a two-run triple in an inning the Zephyrs sent 11 men to the plate.

“We talk a lot about those big innings, and we’ve done a pretty good job avoiding that. That one hurt us,” said Northfield coach Josh Spitzack.

Mahtomedi starter Ethan Felling, a Texas Christian University commit, scattered three hits and allowed one earned run in four innings. Andrew Sokoll added two scoreless frames before Strecker tossed a 1-2-3 seventh.

Austin Koep had an RBI double to get Northfield (15-10) on the scoreboard in the fourth, but Felling struck out a hitter with the bases loaded to quash the uprising.

“If we would have gotten a hit in some situations it could have been a completely different ballgame,” Spitzack said.

First, they optioned Matt Wallner, hoping a trip to Triple-A would help him reset. Edouard Julien was next, and on Thursday, Alex Kirilloff officially became the third slumping left-handed hitter the Twins have sent down to the minors this year.

The move came after a particularly tough last six weeks: Since the beginning of May, Kirilloff is hitting just .143 with a .546 OPS. On the season, he’s hitting .201 and his 86 OPS+ represents a mark that is 14% worse than the league-average hitter.

“He needs to continue to work and we need to help him get back to where he usually is,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Lately, there have been a few different things that we could point to. They haven’t looked like him. It’s not the guy we’re familiar with.”

Typically, when he has struggled at the major league level, it’s been tied to injury. But all accounts are that Kirilloff is healthy and that’s not the reason behind the trouble he has encountered at the plate.

That’s left everyone searching for answers.

“Everyone goes through those sorts of things,” Kirilloff said in May. “It kind of just sucks when you’re going through it. It’s just like, I don’t know what’s going on. You’re mentally just tired of always just trying to think about it.”

And so the Twins hope some time spent making adjustments down at Triple-A might help Kirilloff return to form. Baldelli said they will “continue to experiment” with a couple of different things as they try to diagnose what might be wrong.

“He makes good adjustments and … truthfully, maybe it’s some of the things we bring to the table that help him figure this out,” Baldelli said. “He’s a guy that makes a lot of his own adjustments, too, so I wouldn’t doubt if he found something on his own just experimenting.”

Martin recalled

To fill Kirilloff’s spot on the roster, the Twins have recalled Austin Martin for his third stint in the majors. Since May 21, when he returned to the Saints’ lineup, he is hitting .273 with a .449 on-base percentage. That number was buoyed by one game in which he drew five walks.

“He’s had excellent at-bats at the Triple-A level,” Baldelli said. “He’s been on base all the time.”

Martin was in the starting lineup in left field on Thursday and it seems likely that he might see most of his time in the outfield, though Baldelli said he could find himself at second base — which he’s played extensively in the minor leagues — from time to time.

“It was great to be up and it was great to do what I can to help this team win, but at the end of the day, I still needed to get reps and I still needed to make sure I was prepared to the best of my ability,” Martin said. ‘I think going down there and just getting more reps kind of dialed my eyes in a little bit better, just seeing pitching on a consistent basis.”

Briefly

The Twins will wear their new City Connect uniforms, which they unveiled on Monday, for the first time on Friday. There will also be a postgame Flo Rida concert. … Simeon Woods Richardson will take the ball opposed by right-hander Mitch Spence.