Minnesota SWAT officer shoots, wounds man during standoff

A sheriff’s deputy wounded a man during a standoff in western Minnesota early Sunday.

The Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Office was called for a welfare check at a house near Clarkfield, south of Montevideo, on Saturday afternoon, the agency said in a news release. When officers arrived, the man they meant to check on fled into a farm field with a rifle, the release said.

Sheriff’s deputies rushed neighbors out of the house next to the field and said the man pointed his rifle at them before running into the just-vacated house.

Deputies surrounded the house and tried to talk to the man but called a SWAT team when they could not persuade him to come outside. Members of the Kandiyohi-Meeker-Willmar SWAT team arrived and also tried to talk the person out of the house.

The man fired at the SWAT team, according to the Sheriff’s Office. A SWAT team member shot back, hitting the man in the leg, but the standoff continued.

Two other SWAT teams relieved the Kandiyohi-Meeker-Willmar group after about eight hours, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Just after 6 a.m. Sunday, the man left the house and shot a long gun at the SWAT teams. Another SWAT team member shot back and hit the man.

He was taken to HCMC by helicopter and was stable on Sunday afternoon. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will investigate the use of force.