Local Doctor Identified as First Person Killed in Friday’s Shooting

A 74-year-old doctor was the victim of a Friday shooting that took place before an officer-involved shooting in Orono, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office announced Sunday.

Stephen Lawrence Larson died from multiple gunshot wounds at 8:55 p.m. Friday at his home on the 1000 block of Heritage Lane. Larson was an OB/GYN who founded Burnsville-based OBGYN Specialists in 1980, according to his bio.

Orono police went to Larson’s home at 8:55 p.m. in response to an unknown trouble call. After they arrived, officers encountered a man in the front yard who had a handgun and “subsequently shots were fired,” according to a Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office release.

The man with the handgun was pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were hurt. Officers then entered the home and found Larson, who had been shot before police arrived.

The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the incident, has not specified who was killed inside the home and who was shot outside. However, Larson’s relatives and neighbors said that he was the man killed inside the home before police arrived.

The Medical Examiner’s Office identified the other man as 30-year-old Ted Christopher Hoffstrom, of St. Anthony. His cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, and his time of death was 9:09 p.m. —14 minutes after Larson’s time of death.

The identity of the Orono police officers involved in the shooting will be released later.