Northern Sod Breaker
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http://www.wadenapj.com/articles/in...OKEN=20616764&jsessionid=8830fa193d6b869711f2
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A 19-year-old Wadena man accused of allegedly shooting an air gun at three Wadena-Deer Creek school buses with children on them on March 3 said he had no intention of shooting at the buses.
“It was purely an accident,” said Timothy Mindermann, 19, in a phone interview.
He was driving his car with the window down on Minnesota Highway 29 and found his spring-powered airsoft gun under the seat of his car, he said. He hadn’t seen it in a while and was playing with it, he said.
Mindermann said he didn’t realize the gun had actually fired and hit the school buses until law enforcement knocked on his door.
A former Wadena-Deer Creek student, Mindermann said he was involved in several extra-curricular activities, such as German club and FFA.
“I never had anything against the school,” he said. “It was an accident.”
He is in the U.S. Army Reserve and said he would never intentionally try to hurt someone.
“Why would any person in the U.S. Army want to purposefully hurt anyone?” he asked.
Mindermann is charged with three felony counts of second-degree assault in Otter Tail County for the alleged shooting. The three school buses each had a cracked window from the shots.
According to an Otter Tail County court complaint, Mindermann was driving east on Highway 29 with a juvenile passenger in the vehicle. The passenger told investigators that Mindermann had fired about three times out the window at the school buses.
Mindermann was shocked by the charges, he said.
“That’s very extreme, considering it was an accident,” he said.
related article:
The Wadena man who was charged March 6 after allegedly shooting at school buses with a pellet gun also faces a felony-level receiving stolen property charge in Otter Tail County District Court in connection with a burglary in New York Mills.
Timothy Erwin Mindermann, 19, was charged in August 2007 with receiving stolen property.
On March 5, 2007, New York Mills Police Chief Brian Nelson investigated burglaries at Sun’s Up, Subway and a Lund boat facility all located in the same building, according to a court complaint. Nelson found a rear door forced open, and the business owners reported cash and a cell phone were missing from their establishments. Lund Boat Company also had some expensive tackle boxes missing from a storage unit on the grounds, valued at more than $3,000.
Several weeks later, Nelson received a tip that Mindermann was involved in the theft of items, the complaint said. When Nelson interviewed Mindermann, a former employee of Subway,
he said he had some Lund tackle boxes in his possession at one point, but they were a gift from a Lund employee. Mindermann said he had pawned the tackle boxes in Wadena and Brainerd, the complaint said.
A Lund representative later said the company made no such gift to Mindermann.
The charge of receiving stolen property carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.