LAKE CITY, Minn. — As police were subduing a Lake City man after a shooting last week, he asked officers to shoot him. This detail is included in a criminal complaint against William Charles Piar, age 81. The complaint alleges attempted murder. The take-down, as described in the complaint:
> Police responded to gunfire near the Lake City Subway restaurant on North Lakeshore Drive. just before 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
> A Lake City police officer and Wabasha County sheriff’s deputy approached Piar’s home behind the Subway.Piar was standing in a yard between his home and the Subway building, his right in a coat pocket
> The officers repeatedly ordered Piar to show his hands.
> The officers, who had prior contact with Piar. tried to de-escalate the situation. Piar persisted not to show his right hand.
> Other police arrived at the scene and established a perimeter.
> The original Lake City officer returned his squad and grabbed his less-than-lethal shotgun that fires beanbag rounds. With Piar still refusing to show both hands, the officer fired a bean=bag round, which struck Piar.
> Piar reacted by taking his right hand from his pocket and revealing a dark handgun. Police again commanded Piar to drop the firearm and he again refused.
> The officer continued firing bean-bag rounds at Piar, who stayed on his feet and at one point asked officers to shoot him. Piar eventually went to the ground when a beanbag hit him in the side.
> Piar was taken bleeding an to the Lake City hospital to be checked over, then transferred to the Goodhue County Jail 20 miles away in Red Wing.
While Piar, first was being subdued, officers learned that another man had been shot in an apartment in the Subway building. They found the victim with several wounds, at least one in his abdomen. The criminal complaint identifies the victim only as “D.” His wife and children were in the apartment, according to the complaint. Officers treated the “D’ until paramedics arrived. The wounds appeared life-threatening. Customers in the Subway shop provided statements to investigators. The complaint said that Piar and “D” had property disputes for several years. Other sources said that removing a tree was an issue. Meanwhile, “D” remained a fourth day in a Rochester hospital’s critical care unit a fourth day. His condition was listed as “critical but stable.”
Earlier: Bail at $2 million in Lake City shooting