HOMER, Minn. – Child protection agents took custody of a 1-year-old infant after a day of suicide threats and drunkenness involving his parents. The boy, unharmed, was turned over to a grandmother in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. A bizarre sequence of events had begun about 11 a.m. with a call for deputies to make a welfare check at a residence in the 36000 block of Old Homer Road. Deputies were told by a man on scene that he had felt depressed about a break-up with his girlfriend but was OK. He said the girlfriend had left with a handgun because she either was suicidal or worried that he was. Fast forward five hours: The police dispatcher in Winona received a call from Mauer Brothers tavern 24 miles away in Elba. The barkeep said an intoxicated woman, perhaps suicidal and with a gun, was causing a disturbance. By the time deputies arrived, the woman had driven off. Deputies found the car a mile away on a rural road with a flat tire. The woman was hiding 50 yards away in the woods. Although she initially refused to come out, she eventually did. She was transported 30 miles to a Rochester hospital for evaluation. Deputies said they found the gun from the Holmen residence in the Elba woods nearby, where, they said, the woman had tossed it. Back in Winona deputies called county social workers to intervene for the security of the baby at the Homer address. No charges have been filed, pending further investigation.
