DETROIT LAKES, Minn. - Authorities have identified a Detroit Lakes woman killed Tuesday by a train.
A Burlington Northern Santa Fe train struck Shannon Marie Bugge, 35, of Detroit Lakes when she was attempting to cross the railroad tracks.
The Becker County Sheriff Department received a 911 call at 10:39 a.m. that a train had struck a pedestrian.
Detroit Lakes Police Chief Kel Keena said, according to the two Burlington Northern Santa Fe train engineers - the westbound train hit the woman and the eastbound train was witness to it - said it looked like "someone just trying to get across the tracks."
Bugge had met a friend from Mahnomen at the Amtrak station and was on the bench talking to him when she decided to run across the tracks and buy cigarettes. She was hit after she purchased the cigarettes and was returning to her friend at the depot.
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All railroad warning devices were active and working properly, and the westbound train that hit the woman was blowing its whistle while applying its emergency braking system.
Melony Stainbrook, employee at D.L. Tobacco, where the victim had purchased cigarettes, said she "heard a guy yell and a white car pulling up."
Keena said the car was just a passerby.
Stainbrook said the woman had a television with her and had called the transit system to get a ride with the television.
Keena confirmed that the man from Mahnomen had given the woman the television for her birthday.
She also had a stuffed animal with her.
"She thought she could make it I suppose," Keena said. "I don't know."
