Family, co-workers react as woman who bought guns that killed Burnsville first responders is sentenced

ST. PAUL — Anger and grief mixed with tears in a federal courtroom in St. Paul on Wednesday, Sept. 10, during the sentencing hearing of the woman who illegally bought guns for her boyfriend, which he used to fatally ambush three Burnsville first responders.

Ashley Anne Dyrdahl, 37, was sentenced to three years and nine months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release.

Dyrdahl pleaded guilty in January to straw purchasing the two firearms that her boyfriend, Shannon Gooden, wielded when he killed officers Matthew Ruge and Paul Elmstrand and firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth on Feb. 18, 2024.

The maximum federal sentence for straw purchasing is 15 years in prison for each charge, and relatives of the victims asked U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell to impose the lon