Life goes on after shooting
MORRISON COUNTY BOARD
LITTLE FALLS - A year ago today, business at the Morrison County Government Center came to a standstill when a man with a gun walked into the county board room and held 10 people hostage.
Back
Gordon Kenneth Wheeler Sr., 60, had feuded in the past with the county over his adult-oriented businesses. On June 24, 2008, he arrived at the county board meeting about 20 minutes before it ended. When a motion was made to adjourn, Wheeler pulled out a handgun.
Wheeler allowed County Auditor Russ Nygren and two journalists covering the meeting to leave immediately. Left in the room were county commissioners Tom Wenzel, Jeff Schilling, Duane Johnson; former county commissioner Gene Young; former County Administrator Tim Houle; Houle's assistant Connie Waytashek; and county attorney Brian J. Middendorf.
Unlike a year ago, when a man brandishing a handgun held 10 people hostage for 20 minutes in the Morrison County Board room, it was business as usual Tuesday as Sheriff Michel Wetzel (right) read a report to the county commissioners. Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey » Purchase reprints of this photo.
For about 20 minutes, Wheeler, gun in hand, talked about what he saw as corruption among county officials concerning his adult-use businesses. He wanted Houle to call Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Twin Cities media in an effort to make his case. He said he would shoot anyone who lied to him.
"You've taken everything away from me," Wheeler said, according to the video tape of the incident.
Outside the board room, law enforcement officers alerted by Nygren began to arrive and ordered Wheeler to drop his weapon. When he didn't, Sheriff Michel Wetzel, State Patrol Trooper Kaj Meinhardt and Sheriff's Lt. Bruce Motes opened fire, shooting 20 times and fatally wounding Wheeler with seven shots.
On Tuesday - almost a year to the day when Wheeler held the room hostage - the county board was in session but made no note of the incident.
It's still on their minds, however.
"I think of it and let me tell you, I've wanted it to go away but it's not quite that easy," Johnson said. "It's one of those things, where at times it comes back into your head, wakes you up."
Wenzel said he thinks about the incident once in awhile but tries to not let it bother him. If anything, the hostage situation has given him a different perspective on life, he said.
"I see so much good in everybody," Wenzel said. "I've forgiven Gordie. He's in the hands of the Lord now."
Johnson and Wenzel both said they're comforted by the fact that security measures are now in place - metal detectors into the government center, panic alarms on the commissioners' table and blinds looking from the hallway into the board room removed.
Wenzel said a commissioner inadvertently hit the panic alarm last month, and Wetzel was at the room in a matter of seconds.
Despite what happened a year ago, Wenzel said the business of the county had to continue and people have adjusted.
"Once in awhile it comes up, somebody will bring it up, but other than that, we're getting along fine," Wenzel said. "I think everybody went back into their old groove pretty much. I just haven't thought about it too much and think that's the way it should be. A person's life goes on and I appreciate I am still around."
Though he isn't concerned for his safety, Johnson said it's been a habit to keep an eye on the door. Otherwise he said everyone in county government is doing fine.
"I'm not worried that it's going to happen again," Johnson said. "We still do everything just normal, the county's business is always there."
Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel (center) spoke Tuesday with two men outside the county board room at the Morrison County Government Center. Several security measures have been added to the board room after Gordon Wheeler took 10 people hostage in the room a year ago, including the removal of blinds on windows between the room and the hallway. Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Sheriff Wetzel said along with physical security changes his department has made a few tactical changes, which he declined to discuss. He said the results of June 24, 2008, showed that his deputies were trained properly.
"It reinforced the need for hard, realistic training," Wetzel said.
Wetzel doesn't like to dwell on the incident, in which the Minnesota attorney general's office declared he, Motes and Meinhardt acted appropriately in firing their weapons. He's proud of actions of his and other law enforcement officers that day.
"The officers involved have been thanked and awarded for what they did," Wetzel said. "We have no desire to see it brought back up again."
Still, Wetzel understands that the hostage situation is, and will remain, a subject often discussed.
"That's an event nobody is going to forget anytime soon, least of all us. No one ever expected anything like that would have happened," Wetzel said. "But life goes on, business doesn't stop. It isn't something we think about every day though we certainly think about it. Whether it's once a year, once a week or once every 10 years, it doesn't make any difference. We will remember that."
MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.