Authorities release more details on Sauk Centre shooting, standoff
Authorities have identified the law enforcement officers who shot and wounded a man who allegedly used a compound bow to wound a sheriff's deputy on Thursday in Sauk Centre, Minn.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety reported Saturday that Minnesota State Patrol trooper Anthony Butler and Melrose Police Department officer Patrick Nechanicky discharged their firearms during an encounter with the 31-year-old man. A third officer, Sgt. Joseph Jensen of the Sauk Center Police Department, discharged his Taser.
The man, who is from Alexandria and has not yet been charged, is suspected of stealing and crashing a pickup truck, entering an unlocked home and using a compound bow he found there to shoot an arrow at Stearns County deputy Paul Orvis, wounding him in the arm.
The wounded suspect was taken into custody after a two-hour standoff and airlifted to a St. Cloud hospital with wounds to his left shoulder, buttocks and one hand. He was released from the hospital Saturday and booked into the Stearns County Jail, state authorities said.
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Orvis, a 17-year veteran of the Stearns County Sheriff's Office, underwent surgery Thursday to remove the arrow shaft and treat a possible broken arm. County officials reported Friday that Orvis was out of the hospital.
Butler and Nechanicky are on standard administrative leave, the Department of Public Safety reported. Butler has been with the Patrol for nine years and Nechanicky has been with the Melrose Police Department for 12 years.
No officers at the scene were wearing body cameras, and squad cameras did not capture footage of the shooting.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the officer-involved shooting portion of Thursday's incident, while the St. Cloud Police Department is investigating the assault of Orvis.
No one else was injured in 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.