Clarkfield man charged with stealing great-uncle’s shotgun prior to shootout with law enforcement

Deputies said they found a message scrawled in yellow marker as they investigated the man who engaged in a shootout with law enforcement in western Minnesota last week. The message, written on a door with a smashed window, said “Sorry I.W.,” court records say.

The initials belong to a relative whose shotgun was allegedly stolen by Kasey Paul Willander, 27, prior to a 15-hour standoff with law enforcement at his father’s home near Clarkfield, Minn., 15 miles south of Montevideo.

Willander faces a felony charge of burglary while possessing a weapon, said a criminal complaint with new details on the standoff filed Friday. It is the first charge to come out of the incident.

Willander barricaded himself inside a relative’s home on the afternoon of Sept. 15 and fired at law enforcement at least two times before being shot and arrested the next morning, a statement from the Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Office said earlier this week.

Eight members of law enforcement fired at Willander during the siege, which left him hospitalized but in stable condition at HCMC. No one else was injured during the incident, state authorities said Thursday.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will review body-worn camera footage as part of an investigation into the use of force by law enforcement, a BCA statement said.

Law enforcement on Friday accused Willander of stealing the long gun used during the shootout from his great uncle, Irving Willander.

According to the charges:

Yellow Medicine County deputies said they arrived at Irving Willander’s house on Wednesday.

Irving Willander said he had been away from his home for most of Saturday, but when he returned at 8 p.m. he found his door open and with a broken windowpane, with writing on it in yellow marker that said “Sorry I.W.,” his initials.

Deputies showed him a picture of a semi-automatic Remington Model 1100 shotgun seized from Willander after the shootout. Irving Willander identified the gun as his own, and showed deputies where he had kept it before it was taken.

The standoff began after Willander’s mother told a dispatcher that her son was acting paranoid, and that he was under the influence of drugs, Friday’s criminal complaint said.