ELGIN, Minn. – A rural Elgin man was charged with firing several rifle shots at pheasant hunters on a public road west of Elgin. Paul Allan Reichel, 63, was ordered held on $25,000 bond. The charges: Six felony assault counts and two drive-by shooting counts. The incident, as deputies have pieced it together from various sources:
Details
Three hunters climbed out of their vehicle to hunt for pheasant on foot. Reichel’s wife, Kathleen Gunda Reichel, 68, yelled that they didn’t have permission to be in her land. “Get off,” she shouted. One hunter responded: “Fuck you” and something to the effect: “We’ll do what we please.” Nonetheless, they complied. They got back in their vehicle and drove off down County Road 67. Moments later they realized that they were were being chased and that the driver firing shots at them.. None hit the hunters’ vehicle. After firing at least six shots, Reichel broke off the pursuit. The hunters called the cops. A sheriff’s officer saw lights at 31992 County Road 67 and found Reichel sitting in the garage. Reichel acknowledged that he knew why the officer was there. He explained that he was upset that the hunters had sweared at his wife and threatened her. “If I wanted to I could have killed them.” Asked if the chase and firing the rifle was excessive, Reichel conceded that it probably was but that he had fired only in the air. He said too that he had gone after hunters on his property before. Officers took Reichel jail, where he said: “They started this. I just made the mistake of not finishing it.”
Reichel. Defending his wife from verbal abuse, defending his land from trespassing hunters.