MANKATO, Minn. — The students, friends and family of a 33-year-old biology and physical education teacher fatally shot by a veteran police officer have been left shocked and bewildered by his death, as authorities are slow to release details of the incident.

Chase Anthony Tuseth was shot and killed early on New Year’s Eve morning at a Mankato hotel following reports that Tuseth was throwing things and acting aggressively in the hotel’s lobby.  

“This is so uncharacteristic of him,” Tuseth’s uncle, Mark Liptrap of Spokane, Wash., told the Mankato, Minnesota Free Press.

Liptrap and others who knew the high school teacher said they never saw the aggressive, violent side of him described by law enforcement agencies reporting the events that led to Mankato patrol officer Gary Schnorenberg firing the fatal shots shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday morning.

“Chase was just a great kid. He was quiet, just polite,” Liptrap said.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension presented a different picture Monday afternoon, saying a desk clerk called 911 to report that a man was throwing things in the lobby of the Comfort Inn & Suites, located just northeast of Highways 22 and 14.

Based on recordings of police scanner traffic, The Free Press reported Saturday that the shooting happened about five minutes after the clerk’s 911 call at 4:02 a.m. to report feeling threatened by a man behaving aggressively in the lobby of the hotel.

Schnorenberg was the first officer on the scene and failed to immediately respond to status checks from the dispatcher and other officers.

Seconds later came a voice on the police scanner shouting: “Shots fired, shots fired.”

EMTs reported Tuseth suffered a gunshot wound to the left side with an exit wound on his back, according to the recordings.

Liptrap said family members were left to speculate about why Tuseth was at the hotel. He suspected that his nephew came to Mankato to visit college friends, that he was intoxicated and that — because his car was later found downtown — he probably took a cab or caught a ride from friends to the hotel because he didn’t want to drive while intoxicated.

“In one sense, he was trying to be responsible,” Liptrap said of his nephew, who had a DWI citation eight years ago.

“I’m not saying Chase didn’t do anything wrong. He did, in effect,” he said. “But we think this is a case of excessive force.”

Schnorenberg — who has 30 years of experience with the Mankato Department of Public Safety and has been placed on standard administrative leave while the BCA investigation continues — was treated and released at the Mankato hospital for injuries Hentges described as “not insignificant.”

Few other details have been released by Mankato police, a product of the city not having any details about the investigation, said City Manager Pat Hentges.

Hentges said the city immediately turned the investigation over to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to eliminate any possible conflicts of interest involving a shooting by one of its officers.

The city wants an “unbiased and unfiltered” investigation of a “very tragic event,” he said.

The Mankato, Minnesota Free Press contributed to this story.