Disgruntled porn store owner dies in standoff
Little Falls gunman had history of disputes with county officials
Article Last Updated: 06/25/2008 07:11:09 AM CDT
A man who lost numerous legal battles with Minnesota’s Morrison County over his now-closed adult entertainment businesses was fatally shot after he walked into a county board meeting Tuesday and held at least seven people hostage.
Gordon Wheeler Sr., 60, of Little Falls, was wounded after the county sheriff, a sheriff’s lieutenant and a state trooper opened fire, minutes after he took several county officials hostage as they were wrapping up a board meeting.
Wheeler died later at St. Gabriel’s Hospital in Little Falls, about 100 miles northwest of St. Paul.
It was unclear whether Wheeler returned fire or if he turned the gun on himself, said Dave Bjerga, assistant superintendent for the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
“He talked the whole while, he never quit talking for at least 10 minutes, until the climax,” Wenzel said. “He looked to me like a farmer; he didn’t seem out of the ordinary. I thought, ‘Oh, maybe it was somebody with news or something to say.’
“He had something to say, I guess.”
Wheeler had owned a few adult businesses in the county. In 2003, the county tightened its land-use ordinance for sex-related businesses and shut down an adult book and video store Wheeler owned near Swanville called Lookin’ Fine Smut and Porno, according to reports by the St. Cloud Times.