WINONA, Minn. – A man was jailed after police with a search warrant found a loaded AR-15 rifle in his Far East End house. Police obtained the warrant after a motorist reported being blinded by a high-power flashlight and then being threatened with a rifle. Arrested was Eric John Corey, 37. Deputy Police Chief Tom Williams put together this sequence of events: Corey’s cat didn’t come home so he was looking for it with a flashlight. Corey swung the beam into a passing car on busy East Broadway. The driver, temporarily blinded, stopped, jumped out, and confronted Corey. The confrontation went from bad to worse. Corey went into his house. The driver headed back to his vehicle, then looked back and saw Corey come out of the house carrying an assault rifle. The driver jumped into his vehicle and sped off. From a safe distance he called police. Corey told police he felt threatened and retrieved the weapon for self-defense. Bottom line: Corey was booked for second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.
Corey. Unanswered question: Did the cat come home?