WINONA, Minn. – The initial review of what went wrong with emergency alerts to the public about a police operation Monday on the West End has found miscoded messages. Ben Klinger, the county emergency management coordinator, said automated Facebook messages were sent out incorrectly coded as weather  alerts. Apparently somebody at the dispatch center operated by the sheriff’s office  pressed the wrong button  The miscoded alert went out to a wider area than intended. Klinger called rhe error  a learning experience. A more serious error from another network reported falsely that a an “active shooter” was on the loose. That message, it appears, originated on an internal Winona State University network outside the  official sheriff’s system.

Verbatim

Klinger: “We need to work on being more accurate. We know that but we were trying to do the best we could at the time for public safety, we will learn from it.”

Klinger. Winona County emergency management coordinator.

Earlier: WSU error led to false “active shooter” alert

Earlier: Update: West End stabbing, manhunt, arrest

STOCKTON, Minn. – A driver heading south out of Stockton lost control on the gravel shoulder, overcorrected, went into the ditch. The vehicle overturned on the Canadian Pacific tracks. The driver was uninjured, said the investigating deputy. This about 10:45 a.m. at the rail crossing between Stockton and Minnesota City.

PRESTON, Minn. – Investigators into a pickup crash into an Amish buggy in June have forwarded the case to the Fillmore County prosecutor’s office. The pickup driver suffered minor injuries. None of four people in the buggy was hurt. The horse died. Whether to prosecute the case is up to County Attorney Brett Corson. NOTE: This case is unrelated to two other current Amish buggy cases in Fillmore County.

Earlier: Amish in buggy unhurt in crash; horse dies

Earlier: Driver sees judge about crashing into Amish buggy

Earlier:  Second twin arraigned in fatal Amish crash

WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 52 emergency medical calls plus 23 fire calls in recent days:

> Tuesday, July 9: 13 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Monday, July 8: 9 medical calls plus no fire calls.

> Sunday, July 7: 5 medical calls plus 7 fire calls.

> Saturday, July 6: 8 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.

> Friday, J July 5:  6 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.

> Thursday, J July 4: 5 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.

> Wednesday, July 3: 6 medical calls plus3fire calls.

Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 42 calls

WINONA, Minn. –  The campus security director at Winona State, Chris Cichosz, acknowledged two errors on an internal campus emergency notification network that needlessly elevated public concern about a West Side stabbing. The campus alert included the term “active shooter,” when actually there was no firearm involved. Cichosz declined to point specific blame, but sources said a part-time student employee staffing the campus security office had assumed that a shelter-in-place order from police meant there as an active shooter. The police order, however, did not say anything about a shooter. The order was intended only to clear people out of a police perimeter being searched for a suspect in a crime that didn’t involve any firearm. Once ghe WSU alert went out to roughly  10,000 students and employyees, it took on a life of its own.Like a a virus it infected  internal netorks around town and keot loopig back itself in online chatter. Cichosz said the error also was compounded by information that the police perimeter included the campus. In reality the search was near only at the university’s former College of St. Teresa campus 1-1/2 miles away on the  West End. Winona State abandoned the so-called West Campus three years ago.

Verbatim

Cichosz: “We apologize for any confusion or unnecessary concern created by the succession of messages. Our top priority is the safety of our campus community. We use the WSU Alert emergency notification system to provide clear, timely information with the goal of keeping the members of our community safe. We are conducting a review of our processes and partnerships with local law enforcement agencies, along with our messaging technology, to learn from this incident and improve our notification process for the future.”

Cichosz. Former deputy sheriff. Campus security chief eight years.

Earlier: Update: West End stabbing, manhunt, arrest

STEWARTVILLE, Minn. – A Chicago motorist died when his vehicle left Interstate 90 and struck a tree between the major exits into Rochester. William John Natsues, 42, was pronounced dead at the scene. This was about 5:15 p.m. He was headed west toward Austin in a 2022 Honda SUV. Pavement was dry. His airbag deployed He was wearing a sat belt.

WINONA, Minn. – The man arrested after a West Side stabbing was still volatile and erratic when captured four hours later — and also in the hospital emergency room where police took him to be checked medically. before going to jail. Details of the Monday night saga were described in a regularly scheduled morning news briefing by Jay Rasmussen, deputy police chief, and Jeff Mueller, chief deputy sheriff. Here’s what they told reporters, supplemented here with information from additional sources:

> Who was arrested? Stig Thomas Ure, 25, ofNaknek, Alaska, a salmon fishing village on Bristol Bay, population 500, about 300 miles from Anchorage. He had been on a trip that included his mother to visit family and friends in Caledonia, 40 miles southwest of Winona in Houston County.

> How in Winona? Stig’s mother, concerned that he was drugged up, drove him with a relative from Caledonia to the Winona hospital. In the hospital parking lot he broke away on foot. The mother tried following Stig in her car. At the smaller Lake Winona, she stopped a police officer on patrol and that she was alarmed about Stig’s condition that she had just learned that he had texted to someone in the family from the area of Junction and Fifth streets. His purpose for the text wasn’t clear. Perhaps he was looking for a ride. She told the officer didn’t believe Stig new anybody in town. Nor did she have any idea how he had made it three miles or so from the hospital to the Far West End.

> Where was attack? The officer radioed for assistance and headed himself to 275 Junction Street.  Meanwhile, another officer already in the neighborhood arrived even before employees at the shop, Gerard’s Small Engine Services, could call 911. This was abiutv5L20 a.m.

> From where did attacker come? Employees said the man, whom they didn’t know, had come in the main door looking lost, lingered briefly, went to a bathroom. They gave this further account:

> The attack. The man came out of the bathroom and attempted small talk with an employee who was seated and facing her computer. He then grabbed her shoulders and began striking her neck with his right hand, shouting “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” She fell to the floor. The woman said she felt something solid about six inches long, perhaps a pen, striking her neck. She struggled to fight the attacker off. He kept trying to jab her. She didn’t get a good look at the weapon but described it as sharp. The man fled the shop.

> How serious the injuries? Police said the woman’s neck had visible redness. There also were small punctures on her neck. She declined medical attention.

> Was the man intoxicated? The woman said she couldn’t tell. She was too scared.

> How did attacker get away? As more officers converged on the site, police quickly established a perimeter around several blocks and called a K-9 unit. Because of the  randomness the attack and possible  further risk to the public, a police desk sergeant to arequest for people in 30 or so mostly residential West End blocks to shelter-in-place. Also being a pleasant evening with people out strolling, jogging and barbequeing,  police wanted streets and backyards clear to facilitate the search. At the same time, people were asked to report anything suspicious. Meanwhile, Police Chief Tom Williams and Sheriff Ganrude were en route. In all, 25 officers from multiple agencies joined the manhunt. The initial expectation was that the attacker would be found within a half an hour.

> How was Ure arrested? Four hours later, about 9:30 p.m., a citizen reported a a man crawling through bushes and trees along U.S.Highway 61 at the headend of Lake Winona, half a mile from the stabbing site. He was covered with mud and duck weed. He put up mold resistance, but officers were able to subdue and cuff him relatively easily. He was taken to the hospital to check whether he was medically fit to goto  the county jail

> Hospital. Ure was not docile at the emergency room. Police gave this account: Ure kept screaming loudly and thrashing. He threw a cup at one officer and lunged at him. When a second officer intervened, Ure attempted to pull the officer’s handgun from its holster. The officer secured the weapon, while the officer wrestled Ure the floor. By this point, the medical check was concluded. The doctor OK’d Ure as medically fit for jail.

> Jail house. Ur was booked about 11:30 p.m. on tentative  charges of assaultng  with a dangerous weaon and attempting to disarm an officer. From a holding cell he was taken to a housing unit. There jail has a single-person padded cell to protect inmates  from self-harm.

> Was there a firearm? Police said there never was evidence that Ure had a gun. Even so, an emergency alert from an external source said there was an “active shooter” on the loose. Jay Rasmussen, deputy police chief, said false characterization was being investigated. Probably, he said, the police alert was picked up by any of dozens of local in-house communication networks designed to keep employees advised of unfolding and  possibly dangerous situations. Somebody somewhere used the term “active shooter,” which went locally viral. There was a report that the problem originated with a student employee at the Winona State University campus security control center. Rasmussen acknowledged that the police investigation would include Winona State’s internal  alert system to students and employees. Whether the university was the source or not, Rasmussen said that criminal liability was unlikely  for an unwitting error or misjudgment, short of  intent to deceive or to instill panic. Rasmussen reiterated that a thorough review would be aimed at coordinating alerts through external local networks in the future.

Earlier: Apology issued for false “active shooter” alert

Earlier: Police flush assault suspect from Gilmore weeds

Earlier: Fear of active shooter leads to Winona lockdown

ROCHESTER, Minn. –  A Minnesota State Patrol trooper, Shane Roper, was charged with manslaughter, criminal vehicular homicide, and multiple related counts for a multi-vehicle crash that fatally injured an Owatonna teenager. The accident was near Apache Mall on May 18. Roper, age 32, has been on administrative leave since the accident. The criminal complaint alleges that Roper was traveling 83 mph in a 40 zone with neither emergency lights nor siren. Due to his speed, Roper was unable to to avoid the collision, the complaint said.

Earlier Owatonna teen dies of wreck injuries near mall

Earlier: Seven hurt in multi-vehicle crash at Apache Mall

WINONA, Minn. – The chief Winona law enforcement officials apologized for a false alert about an “an active shooter.” Police Chief Tom Williams and Sheriff Ron Ganrude promised to review procedures that went awry after a stabbing at a West End shop. There was no active shooter. Their joint statement:

“Emergency alerts are sent out by the Winona County sheriff’s office at the request of law enforcement agencies. During this incident, Winona police requested a ‘shelter in place’ but due to multiple alert platforms being utilized, several messages went out and caused some confusion. In addition, a different alert platform not utilized by law enforcement mistakenly sent a message regarding an ‘active shooter.’ We apologize for the confusion caused by the emergency alert systems in this case.”

Earlier: Police flush assault suspect from Gilmore weeds

WINONA, Minn. – Police arrested a man hiding in reeds and rushes near the Gundersen Clinic on Highway 61, ending a four-hour manhunt.  Arrested was Stig Thomas Ure, 25. The arrest was about 9:30 p.m. near the Gilmore Creek inlet into Lake Winona.

The man was booked for assault with a dangerous weapon and disarming a police officer. Details of the arrest were not clear immediately. This much was known:

> About 5:20 p.m. a man assaulted a shop clerk at 250 Junction Street with a sharp object and fled on foot.

> Although the clerk’s injuries were non-life threatening, police were concerned about the seriousness of the attack and requested residents in the area to shelter in place.

> By mistake, at least one  emergency platform activated by police  sent out an inaccurate reference to an“active shooter.”

> News media calls to police from LaCrosse, Rochester and the Twin Cities went unanswered or were cut off: “We’re too busy.” Stations dispatched reporter teams to Winona.

> At one point, sites that track police communication for the public received an usually heavy volume. One site had 1,800 hits.

> Eventually police corrected the errant shelter-in-place request: “There was no active shooter.”

> About 9:30 p.m. a citizen who received the emergency alerts reported a suspicious man crawling in the weeds along the 1100 block of Highway 61.

> Ure was located and taken to jail.

Earlier: Fear of active shooter leads to Winona lockdown

Ure. Police posted this latter-day wanted poster online  in asking for public help to locate Ure.

WINONA, Minn. – Police issued a shelter-in-place order for a major section of West Fifth Street after a reported assault and concern about an active shooter. The order was lifted about 8:30 p.m. – three hours after the assault was reported. In lifting the order, a police posting online acknowledged the lockdown was a mistake: “There was no active shooter.” People had been told to lock their doors and retreat to their basements or interior rooms. Details were sketchy, but a large Kwik Trip convenience store and fueling station is at 872 West Fifth Street – midway on the 14-block section of Fifth between Pelzer and Vila streets covered by the shelter-in-place order. Meanwhile, police confirmed they were looking for a white male, age 25, 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, with facial piercing, and wearing ripped black jeans and a bright floral shirt. Police said the man was last seen at 5:20 p.m., fleeing on foot in the area of Fifth and Junction streets — location of the Kwik Trip.  A heavy police presence remained fromVila Street west to Pelzer streets and adjoining mostly residential blocks.

ST. CHARLES, Minn – Long-time Winna volunteers Dale and Clara Newcomb are being inducted into the Winona County Fair Hall of Fame. Saturday has been proclaimed Newcomb Day at the fairgrounds. For nearly 50 years the Newcombs have volunteered in 4-H youth and fostered thousands of students through St. Martin’s Church and School. Dale was raised on a farm near Nodine, and Clara on a “farmette” in Rollingstone. Dale holds a degree from Winona State and worked at Merchants Bank until retiring in 2017. He served many years with the Fair livestock auction. They continue to advise the Pleasant Busy Bee’s 4-H Club. For years at the Fair they have helped set up and tear down exhibits. Since 1917 Dale has a master gardener.

Earoie: Winona couple honored for lifetime 4-H work

Earlier: Banker a County Fair Hall of Fame inductee

Earlier: County Fair honor to Warren Township veteran

Earlier: Big Valley equestrian to County Fair’s Hall of Fame

Campbell. Business includes cash crop and beef, Campbell Ag Service.

WINONA, Minn. – A woman told police that a stranger, walking toward her on a sidewalk as she was pushing her 2-year-old in a stroller, told her to make way for him or he would hit her “in the head hard.” The man walked on, she said. Upset, she called police. The incident was at Mankato and King Street about 8:40 p.m. Five blocks away, also on Mankato, police stopped Shane Richard Oevering, 45, of Winona. He admitted passing the woman but denied any threat, police said.  They cited Oevering for disorderly conduct.