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‘Lead persuasion’ used by Bloomington police
Bloomington police officers exchanged gunfire with a wrong-way driver Wednesday night, leading police to use "lead persuasion" to end the situation with the suspect. Police Chief Booker Hodges offered an update on the "use-of-force" incident on Thursday.
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (FOX 9) - A 21-year-old man has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison after a standoff that escalated into gunfire with Bloomington police, during which officers had to use "lead persuasion" to end the conflict, according to chief Booker Hodges.
Bloomington wrong-way driver standoff sentenced
What we know:
Joshua Rocha, of Savage, Minnesota, was charged with three counts of attempted murder and three counts of first-degree assault following a Dec. 4, 2025, incident that escalated into gunfire between him and Bloomington police officers.
A sentencing handed down by Minnesota District Court Judge Emily Froehle calls for him to serve 120 months concurrently, or roughly 13.3 years behind bars.
He will receive 311 days credit for time already served, according to sentencing documents.
Dig deeper:
Charges state that officers saw a wrong-way driver, later identified as Rocha, near Old Shakopee Road and Killebrew Drive around 10:30 p.m. Police report that they attempted to stop Rocha, but when he continued driving, they used PIT maneuvers to disable his vehicle.
Charges state that one officer observed a "large assault-style rifle gun and notified other officers," at which point they took cover.
Soon afterward, the charges state that Rocha fired numerous shots at their squad car.
Officers then returned fire, resulting in an injury to Rocha’s hands, before he was taken into custody by authorities.
‘Lead persuasion’
What they're saying:
In a press conference following the standoff’s conclusion, Hodges says throughout the incident Rocha "continued his idiotic decisions" even after police deployed pepper balls, leading department officers to use "a little bit of lead persuasion to get the man to stop shooting at us."
"We're grateful today that no one is visiting the undertaker," Hodges said at the time. "Don't come to Bloomington and think you're going to shoot at our cops. You shoot at us, we're going to shoot back."
The Source: Information provided by court documents filed in Hennepin County and previous FOX 9 reporting.