Axe attack suspect arrested after 24-hour standoff in St. Joseph, sheriff says
A 39-year-old man from St. Joseph, Minnesota, is in custody Thursday following a nearly 24-hour standoff north of the College of St. Benedict.
The Stearns County Sheriff's Office says deputies were first dispatched to a residence in St. Joseph Township around 6:22 p.m. Wednesday after a 911 caller reported a man "had broken into his home and was armed with an axe."
The caller also provided the suspect's name and address, leading deputies to his residence about 4 miles north in St. Joseph. The sheriff's office said the suspect "refused to come out" and was still wielding an axe, leading to the activation of the joint SWAT team of Stearns and Benton counties around 7:50 p.m.
The sheriff's office said after nearly eight hours of fruitless negotiations — with the suspect "heard yelling threats at law enforcement" — the St. Cloud Police Department's SWAT team came to relieve the counties' team around 3:30 a.m. Thursday. Just more than three hours later, SWAT team members "breached the residence" and arrested him.
The suspect, who was hospitalized for minor injuries before he was taken to the Stearns County Jail, is currently under an extreme risk protection order that was issued about three weeks ago, officials say. It's unclear if it is related to this current case.
