Jun 24, 2008 11:21 pm US/Central
Man Killed After Standoff Had History With County
LITTLE FALLS, Minn. (AP) ―
A man who had skirmished with county officials for years over his adult businesses walked into a board meeting with a gun on Tuesday and held about 10 people hostage before he was fatally wounded, authorities said.
Officers responding to the call Tuesday morning shot Gordon Wheeler Sr., 60, of Little Falls, said Dave Bjerga, assistant superintendent for the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Wheeler died later at St. Gabriel's Hospital in Little Falls.
"He came in and interrupted a regularly scheduled board meeting," Bjerga said. "We're still interviewing people in the room to find out what exactly happened."
A few people were able to escape and call the sheriff's office after Wheeler pulled out a handgun, Bjerga said. The incident lasted only a few minutes and ended when Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel, a sheriff's deputy and a state trooper fired on Wheeler, Bjerga said.
No one else was injured, and it wasn't clear whether Wheeler fired his gun, Bjerga said.
BCA investigators were called soon after the shooting to Little Falls, which is about 97 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
Wheeler had owned a few adult businesses in the county that have since closed. The county in 2003 made its land-use ordinance for sex-related businesses stricter and then moved to shut down an adult book and video store Wheeler owned near Swanville called Lookin' Fine Smut and Porno, according to past reports by the St. Cloud Times.
Bjerga said investigators don't know what Wheeler's motive was, though he acknowledged the past conflicts.
The county boardroom is in a complex that also houses courtrooms, the county jail and the sheriff's department. Bjerga hadn't confirmed whether visitors to the building were required to pass through a metal detector, but he said security isn't as tight as some county government buildings. "It's not like the big city where they have all the security protections," he said.
Wheeler's cause of death wasn't immediately released. An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday, said Don Gorrie, a spokesman for the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's office.
After the Swanville store was closed, Wheeler remained the owner of an exotic dancing club called Camp Bar near Camp Ripley. But prostitution-related charges against Wheeler surfaced, and Wheeler was convicted in 2006 of promoting and profiting from prostitution, the St. Cloud Times reported.
The county board denied Wheeler's liquor license for the Camp Bar and a judge ordered the bar to close two years ago.
A little more than a year later, Wheeler sued the county and several county officials, accusing them of corruption. A Stearns County judge dismissed Wheeler's lawsuit against the county last year, and a different Stearns County judge earlier this year dismissed the remaining lawsuits against the officials.
County Administrator Tim Houle declined to comment on the incident when contacted by The Associated Press. He referred all questions to the BCA. Two county commissioners seen outside the government building after the incident did not immediately return messages left by an AP reporter seeking comment.
The BCA is handling the investigation because several county employees were involved. Bjerga said the Minnesota Attorney General's Office will review results of the investigation.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
