On the evening of December 20, 2017, 25-year-old Justin Finklea of Saint Paul, Minnesota, was fatally shot at a residence on the 400 block of West Michigan Street. Finklea had been drinking with friends when a 9mm handgun discharged, striking him in the lower-left torso. First responders pronounced him dead at the scene. He was a father of two young sons and a graduate of Forest Lake High School.

Authorities arrested 31-year-old Joel Andrew Paulson of Stacy, Minnesota. Paulson initially said Finklea had shot himself but later admitted he was holding the gun when it fired. Investigators found that Finklea had been handling the weapon, repeatedly inserting and removing the magazine; Paulson then took the gun, unaware a round was chambered, pointed it at Finklea and pulled the trigger. Paulson was charged with second-degree manslaughter and later sentenced in November 2018 after a plea agreement.