Police say permit holder left gun in car after crashing into snow bank
Last year, I blogged about some of the hundreds of gun-related cases prosecuted in Hennepin County. I’ll keep following county gun cases this year too, and will update The Cities each month with some noteworthy items. Here's what I found in February:
Minneapolis police say a man with a permit to carry a handgun crashed his car into a snow bank and left it there with the gun inside. According to a search warrant, on Feb. 18, police patrolling near Dowling and Girard Ave. N came across a Volkswagen Jetta apparently abandoned in a snow bank. “Officers looked inside the vehicle and observed in plain view a black semi-automatic handgun on the drivers side floorboard,” reads the warrant. Police had the car impounded and according to the search warrant the gun they found inside was a Hi-Point C9 9mm Luger.
Police say the registered owner of the car, a 44-year-old Minneapolis man, responded to the scene and produced a Minnesota permit to carry a firearm. According to the warrant, the man, "smelled of an alcoholic beverage and admitted to officers that he had been consuming alcohol before and after the crash."
A police report shows the officers released the man from the scene after taking his statement. According to court records, the man was convicted of misdemeanor 5th degree assault in 2003. In 2004, he was convicted of 3rd degree DWI, which is a gross misdemeanor. In 2008 the man pleaded guilty to ‘refusal to submit to a chemical test’ which is also a gross misdemeanor.
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According to a report released last week by the BCA, more than 1,000 crimes involving permit holders were reported in the state last year. More than half of those offenses were traffic violations. Law enforcement officials say crimes involving permit holders are rare.
Police: Gunman may have scrawled bloody obscenity on the wall
Rayco Hollis, 31, was arraigned this week on charges of second degree assault, terroristic threats and illegal possession of a gun stemming from a Feb. 28 incident at a home in Robbinsdale.
According to the complaint, Hollis was arguing with a woman in the house and began threatening her and the woman’s two juvenile daughters while holding a gun. “Victim 1 reported the Defendant grabbed her and stated he was going to do something drastic,” reads the complaint. A SWAT team was dispatched after a standoff between police and Hollis.
Police say eventually Hollis exited the home and was taken into custody.
“Officers also observed the words ‘f--- you’ written in blood on one of the walls in the residence,” states the complaint. “During the Defendant’s arrest officers noted cuts and slight lacerations to the Defendant’s left hand.”
Police say they also found $2,700 in cash in the house. Some of the cash had blood on it, said police. Court documents show Hollis has an outstanding felony warrant in Milwaukee, Wis. A Hennepin County District Court judge set his bail at $150,000.