State IDs man shot by law enforcement in western Minnesota siege

Eight members of law enforcement fired their weapons at Kasey Paul Willander, 27, during a 15-hour standoff in rural western Minnesota, state authorities said Thursday.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified Willander as the man shot by deputies and police during a siege that began Saturday near Clarkfield, Minn., 15 miles south of Montevideo.

The bureau also named the men who shot at Willander, and will review body camera footage as part of an investigation into the use of force by law enforcement, the statement said.

Willander is hospitalized in stable condition at HCMC and is expected to survive, the statement said. No one else was injured during the incident.

Willander had been paranoid and behaving strangely with a knife and a bow on Saturday afternoon, prompting his mother to call law enforcement, according to a search warrant from the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office.

He left before deputies arrived, but law enforcement said it received a call two hours later that he was hiding in the woods with a rifle near another relative’s home. The relatives were forced to barricade themselves in their home. As deputies evacuated them, Willander pointed a long gun in their direction, the warrant said. He is prohibited from possessing firearms after pleading guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony, in 2015.

A standoff ensued as police SWAT teams surrounded the home, the Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday. Willander is accused of shooting at the officers multiple times, and SWAT team members struck him at least twice before the standoff ended at 6:17 a.m. Sunday.

Two deputies are said to have discharged their firearms and are on critical incident leave — a standard practice for officers involved in BCA use-of-force investigations.

They are Michael Lamee, a 10-year law enforcement veteran with the Big Stone County Sheriff’s Office, and an undercover deputy from Meeker County not named by the BCA on Thursday.

Four police and deputies are said to have used less-lethal 40 mm rounds: Ross Livingood of the Willmar Police Department, Steve Nagel of the Glenwood Police Department, Darrell Thompson of the Big Stone County Sheriff’s Office, and Mitch Zimmerman of the Redwood County Sheriff’s Office.

Tim Oster and Ryan Schutz of the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office are said to have fired non-lethal pepper ball rounds.

So-called less-lethal weapons have been criticized in the past for causing grievous injuries, being inaccurate and at times being improperly used.

The Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Office is investigating other aspects of the incident.