ADA, Minn. – A 20-year-old man accused of shooting a Norman County deputy in April pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted murder and three other felonies.
Minnesota guidelines call for Steven Henderson of Fertile to receive a prison sentence of 14 to 20 years on the charge of first-degree attempted murder of a peace officer, County Attorney James Brue said.
Along with attempted murder, Henderson pleaded guilty to bringing stolen goods into the state and two counts of receiving stolen property. Brue said Henderson’s pleas were not part of a deal with the prosecution. His sentencing is set for Jan. 7.
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On April 15, Henderson shot Deputy Nathan Warner, who was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, in the back during a traffic stop near Perley, and another round struck the deputy’s portable radio on the front of his vest, according to court papers.
Warner, who returned fire but missed, was treated at a Fargo hospital and released. The Mahnomen County attorney later found that the deputy’s use of force was justified.
When Henderson was pulled over, he and his brother had just traveled from Oklahoma to Minnesota in a pickup that Henderson stole the day before in Madison, Neb., court papers stated. Inside the truck’s glove compartment, Warner found a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, court papers said.
A report of a suspicious pickup led the deputy to stop the truck, which had no license plates, on County Road 39 near County Road 12. Henderson was driving, and his brother, William Henderson, was in the passenger seat, court papers stated.
At the time, William Henderson, 19, had an arrest warrant for failing to appear in court on misdemeanor charges in Pennington County, so the deputy placed him in the backseat of his squad car, according to court papers.
The deputy returned to the pickup and then headed back to his squad car. At that point, Steven Henderson opened fire with the handgun, court papers said.
Steven Henderson drove off, and officers found him two hours later in woods near a vacant farmstead a few miles from the shooting scene.
