DODGE CENTER, Minn. – After a five-hour standoff with police at a house on the Northwest Side, a man armed with a long gun surrendered. John Lentz, 65, by then unarmed, was taken into custody. He was taken to a Rochester hospital for mental evaluation. During the standoff, the 1,100-student Triton School five blocks way was placed in soft lockdown. Deputies started going door to door evacuating the neighborhood for six blocks.
Initial confrontations
Deputies were called about 11:20 a.m. that a man had threatened to shoot a woman if she didn’t get out of his house This, according to Sheriff Scott Rose, is what happened next: The first deputy to arrive was told by the woman and she and two other family members were trying persuade Lentz to go the hospital. He seemed “off” and has a history of mental illness, the woman said. Lentz’s housemate said he had observed him holding his dog down on the floor, so he pushed Lentz’s hands up to release the dog. Lentz let the dog go but then went after the housemate and placed a chokehold on him.. The housemate managed to push Lentz off, but Lentz struck him repeatedly on the face. The housemate was able to get Lentz secured in a bedroom, then heard Lentz opening the gun safe. The house and relatives continued to plead with Lentz to let them take him to the hospital. He refused. When he threatened to shoot, they fled. Outside, they said, they could see through the window that Lentz holding a long gun.
The standoff
The heriff requested assistance from police agencies in Kasson and the Minnesota State Patrol, the Olmsted County sheriff, ,Olmsted/Rochester emergency response unit, and Dodge Center fire department. About 12:40 p.m. Lentz walked out his door, threatened officers again, and walked back inside. A drone and robot were used to deliver a cellphone inside the house. Lentz refused to take a negotiator’s calls. About 3:36 a distraction device was lobbed into the house. Lentz didn’t responsd. About 4:30 Judge Jodi Williamson signed a search warrant. The judge was familiar with Lentz, who was wanted on an earlier warrant accusing him of domestic assault by strangulation and terroristic threats. At 4:36 police breached windows to get Lentz to respond. They could still see him walking around inside, but he continued to refuse to come out. At approximately 4:52, after a third window was breeched, Lentz came out and turned himself in.