Officers' Names Released in Minnetonka Officer-Involved Shooting

Minnetonka Police have released the names of the officers involved in the Oct. 23 officer-involved shooting at Claremont Apartments on 10761 Smetana Road.

The officers involved were Officer James Comings and Officer Ryan Smith. 

Comings was hired by the Minnetonka Police Department effective April 16, 2012. He had been previously employed by the U.S Border Patrol from 2005-2011. 

Smith was hired by the Minnetonka Police Department effective June 25, 2012. He was previously employed as a detention deputy with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office from 2009 until he was hired by Minnetonka. 

Neither officer has had any citizen complaints or disciplinary action with the Minnetonka Police Department.

At the request of the Minnetonka Police Department, this case is under investigation by the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.

On Wednesday, October 23, at 8:24 p.m., Minnetonka police officers were dispatched to the apartment complex on a report of a person with a gun. On arrival, officers encountered a male with a firearm in the underground garage, and shots were fired, according to Minnetonka Police. The man with the firearm was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner identified Michael Regner Tray, 27, of Austin, MN, as the man who died. 

Tray died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Officers went to the complex at 8:24 p.m. following a report of a man with a gun, a Minnetonka news release stated. Upon arrival, they encountered a man with a firearm in an underground garage and shots were fired.

Minnesota court records do not show any violent convictions for Tray. Someone with the same name, age and home city had a 2010 misdemeanor conviction in Stearns County for refusing to submit to a chemical test used to confirm drunken driving suspicions.

Michael Strunk, who’s been friends with Tray for five years, said friends and family can’t understand what happened.

“We look at his pictures, and we can’t fathom it,” he said. “He was never a violent guy at all. He’s literally the guy that gives a stranger the shirt off his back.”

No other information about the incident has been released.