Deputy struck by arrow in Sauk Centre; 1 in custody after standoff

Deputy shot with arrow
Law enforcement officials set up a perimeter around the scene where a Stearns County deputy was shot with an arrow Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018, in Sauk Centre, Minn.
Dave Schwarz | St. Cloud Times via AP

Updated 5:45 p.m. | Posted 12:28 p.m.

A Stearns County deputy was injured Thursday morning after being shot in the forearm with an arrow by a suspected car thief who triggered a spasm of mayhem and a standoff.

The suspect, described as a 31-year-old man from the Osakis-Alexandria area in northwestern Minnesota, barreled into Sauk Centre just after 10 a.m., driving a black pickup truck stolen from Osakis, the Stearns County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

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After hitting a building, driving though backyards and smashing into parked vehicles, the suspect sped through a residential neighborhood, crashing through a garage on 10th Street South.

He jumped out and ran into an unlocked home. As officers tried to clear the home, he appeared at the top of the stairs to the second floor with a compound bow taken from the home, and shot deputy Paul Orvis through the arm, the agency said.

"How many homes in rural Minnesota do you go in that aren't filled with weapons and rifles and pistols — and there were none in this home except the compound bow, and yet he used it to shoot our deputy," Stearns County Sheriff Don Gudmundson said at an afternoon news conference in St. Cloud.

A Stearns County deputy was injured Thursday after being shot by an arrow.
A Stearns County deputy was injured Thursday morning after being shot by an arrow, triggering a standoff with the suspect.
Kirsti Marohn | MPR News

Officers fired at the suspect striking him more than once, according the sheriff's office. Negotiators then worked to talk him down from the second floor. He appeared after nearly two hours, was shocked with a stun gun and taken into custody.

He was later taken by helicopter to a St. Cloud hospital and was being treated for wounds to his left shoulder, buttocks and one hand.

Orvis, a 17-year veteran of the Stearns County Sheriff's Office, was listed in good condition. He underwent surgery to remove the arrow shaft and treat a possible broken arm.

No one else was injured in the incident.

Authorities say it's not clear yet which officers shot the suspect, who wasn't immediately named. The St. Cloud Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are handling the investigation of the incident.

The neighborhood around the standoff was evacuated during the standoff with officers from multiple agencies responding. Sauk Centre Schools also went into lockdown.

Gudmondson said officers were responding to reports of reckless driving by the suspect when he crashed, but were not involved in a pursuit.

Gudmondson said the suspect chose the unoccupied home at random, and found the bow inside. Authorities were able to contact the homeowners during the incident to learn more about what weapons might be found in the house.

"We actually knew how many arrows were left in the home — one arrow was fired, we knew there were five additional," he said.

Brandon Schindler, who lives a few houses away from where the standoff happened, said he was asleep when police came and told him he needed to evacuate.

"I come upstairs and I look out the window and there's a bunch of cops walking down the street with guns and bulletproof vests," he said. "It is super weird waking up to a bunch of cops walking down your street."