Two men and a girl were arrested early Thursday after a gun was fired in Mahnomen, Minn., and sheriff's deputies responded. A handgun stolen four years ago was recovered in the investigation.
Paul Osowski, investigator for the Mahnomen County Sheriff's Office, said a complaint about a possible gunshot was called in about 1:18 a.m. Thursday from the Riverland Complex on the east side of the city. Deputies secured the residence where the shot reportedly was fired, obtained a search warrant and used it. Two adult males and a juvenile female were arrested without incident, and a 9 mm handgun was confiscated. That was the gun apparently fired during a party. A check of a federal database using the serial number, make and model of the semiautomatic handgun showed it was a gun stolen four years ago from a Park Rapids, Minn., gun store, Osowski said. Investigators also recovered a semiautomatic SKS rifle at the residence, a military rifle of Russian design and most often Chinese manufacture. (An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the SKS as a copy of an AK-47 assault rifle.)
Jim May, owner of Northern Bait in Park Rapids, said his store was broken into overnight about four years ago and several guns were stolen.
"It was quite a few guns. We lost some handguns in the burglary," May said. He was never told that any were recovered.
The last he heard about the crime was a few days after law enforcement learned a suspect was holed up in a motel in Mahnomen.
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"The motel guy called (law enforcement) and said the guy had a bunch of guns. ... But the guy skipped out before morning. That's the only thing we heard."
Osowski couldn't confirm Thursday that the 9 mm recovered was actually one of May's guns.
Osowski said charges expected to be filed today, when the three appear in state district court in Mahnomen, will be related to the incident. He could not comment on whether any of the three arrested are suspects in the Park Rapids gun theft. He said he was not releasing the three names until the investigation was more complete.
No one was hurt in the arrest, or the earlier shot fired in Mahnomen, which hit no one, Osowski said.
Reach Lee at (701) 780-1237; (800) 477-6572, ext. 237; or send e-mail to slee@gfherald.com .
