Shooting victim had greeted the stranger who pulled into his west central Minnesota driveway

LAKE LILLIAN, Minn. — Peter Mayerchak did what came naturally when he went to greet a stranger who pulled into his rural home’s driveway along Hwy. 7.

Seconds later, he was bleeding from a gunshot that entered his chest and exited his body.

Mayerchak was the first of two men who were shot Tuesday afternoon in the Willmar area allegedly by a 25-year-old man who earlier that day fired a gun from an apartment balcony in the heart of Minneapolis’ Lyn-Lake neighborhood.

The gunman evaded capture in Minneapolis and sped west with law enforcement in pursuit, but he was not captured until he killed one man and seriously wounded Mayerchak, according to Minneapolis police and the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office.

The Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office identified the person killed as Jerome Skluzacek, 55, of New London, and Mayerchak as the man who survived being shot.

Kandiyohi County Attorney Shane Baker said murder and other charges are expected this week. Charges are also pending in Hennepin County stemming from the early afternoon gunfire. The Minnesota Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged. Minnesota court records show nothing in the man’s criminal background other than a minor drug paraphernalia conviction and numerous parking and driving violations.

Sam Mayerchak said his brother was moved out of the intensive care unit Wednesday afternoon at HCMC. A hospital spokeswoman said Peter Mayerchak was in satisfactory condition.

Peter Mayerchak was out in his yard placing hay over his septic mound about 2 p.m. when “a car pulled up in the driveway, and he went to greet them,” Sam Mayerchak said, sharing his brother’s account.

“The guy was on the phone and saying that if he’s not allowed to see someone, ‘I’m going to kill someone’ or something like that,” the brother said. “And then he shot him.”

The suspect then fled in the vehicle.

Sam Mayerchak said his brother’s wife was home at the time. She used her skills as a nurse “to kind of get him treated and put pressure on the wound, and get him airlifted and to a hospital.”

The brother said it was fortunate the home is in a very rural location, because that allowed the air ambulance to get especially close and land in a nearby field.

The gunshot went “right through the center of his right chest,” Sam Mayerchak said. “He still has some lung complications.”

Less than half an hour after the suspect fled from Mayerchak’s home, police pursued the car and, according to emergency dispatch audio, prepared to place stop sticks to deflate his tires. They were also in contact with OnStar to disable the vehicle when he bailed and was “attempting to steal another car,” an officer radioed. At 2:27 p.m., Skluzacek was reported with a gunshot wound to the head on Hwy. 23. He was pronounced dead at the scene about 15 minutes later.

Lisa Skluzacek said she “had just read about the whole situation and I thought, ‘I wonder who that is?’” in regards to the victim fatally shot. She learned the next day that it was her former husband, with whom she shares an adult son.

“He was always willing to help people, and he was a pretty funny guy,” said Lisa Skluzacek, who kept in regular contact with him since their divorce in 2010 and shared that he was engaged to be married. “He could pretty much fix anything.”

Other family members of Skluzacek told the Minnesota Star Tribune they did not wish to talk.

News of the carjacking came as a shock to residents in New London, a lake town of about 1,200, and in Lake Lillian, a community of about 200 about 30 miles away. One resident in Lake Lillian, who did not want to be named, said she had been near the scene of the crime and was stunned by the randomness of the violence.

Tuesday’s events unfolded shortly before 1 p.m., when police were called to an apartment complex in the 2900 block of Lyndale Avenue S., where the man fired several rounds into the street from the building’s top floor.

Police shuttered the busy intersection and surrounding blocks from W. 28th to Lake streets in the densely populated commercial and residential corridor as they attempted to negotiate his surrender.

According to the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office, the man traveled west through several counties and then shot and wounded Mayerchak. Police say the suspect then fatally shot Skluzacek during an attempted carjacking at the Hwy. 71 and Hwy. 23 bypass southeast of Willmar. Police eventually arrested the man.

Bystanders observing the scene in Minneapolis recalled hearing the female police negotiator pleading with the suspect to surrender.

“They were definitely making a concerted effort to convince [the suspect] they wouldn’t hurt him,” a witness, who asked not to be identified, told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “It sounded like he didn’t trust what they were saying.”

When shots rang out over the phone, the negotiator dropped to her knees and cried. Colleagues could be seen comforting her.

O’Hara said the shots in Minneapolis were fired shortly after an altercation involving the man’s ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend, who arrived to the apartment to retrieve some items. The man and the woman share a child, who was at day care at the time. Police went there to ensure the child’s safety shortly after the suspect fled. The ex-girlfriend and the boyfriend were also not harmed.

O’Hara said that when police initially responded, it was unclear whether the suspect was still inside the apartment. There is no indication of a domestic violence history between the pair.

At one point after Mayerchak was shot, an officer or dispatcher radioed that the suspect was the man from Minneapolis: “He did just discharge a weapon … and he did say he was willing to shoot cops. Proceed cautiously.”

A short time later, the suspect was leading police on a chase of speeds of more than 100 mph while on the phone with the Minneapolis negotiator, threatening “suicide by cop.”

At about 2:29 p.m., the suspect was arrested, and a gun was recovered in the ditch.

Staff writer Abby Simons contributed to this story.