WINONA, Minn. – Police arrested a man who reportedly had been swinging a sword recklessly and scaring people in the flop-house in the block of 400 Mankato Avenue. Police were told that Christopher Wayne James Swinger, 49, was angry that a drill that belonged to him had been stolen. He picked up a three-foot sword and shouted that everyone around him would “be dead.” One person said the sword missed him by inches. Another fled outside. All kinds of things were knocked over. This was about 1:55 p.m. When police arrived, Swinger came out and surrendered without incident.
School lockdown. At Washington-Kosciusko School, on Mankato Avenue a block from the flophouse, Principal Justin Hanson ordered a lockdown until police could calm the sword incident. The school has 280 pupils from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade.