The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

September 21, 2012

Alleged gun threat results in assault charge

By Dan Nienaber Free Press Staff Writer

MAPLETON — Assault charges have been filed against a Mapleton man who allegedly threatened to shoot his son after an argument over a cellphone.

A police officer was sent to the house on Lincoln Street in Mapleton at about 9:45 p.m. Sunday. As the officer walked up to the house, he found Alan Benson using a cellphone to talk to dispatchers from outside.

Alan Benson said he had taken his father’s cellphone to Mankato with him earlier that day because his cellphone was dead, according to a criminal complaint filed this week. He also told the officer he gave the phone to his father, 63-year-old Brian Arthur Benson, and watched his father put it on a bedroom night stand.

Brian Benson later said he never got the phone back, so Alan Benson told him he had returned it. Alan Benson also told the officer he yelled and swore at his father as he went into the bedroom and pointed it out to him.

As Alan Benson walked out of his father’s bedroom, he said he heard his father cock a .40 caliber Glock pistol that his father carries for his job. The complaint didn’t say what type of employment Brian Benson is in that requires him to carry a gun.

“Brian Benson came up to Alan Benson and pointed the gun at his chest and face and stated, ‘If you ever (expletive) yell at me again, I will (expletive) shoot you,’” the complaint said. “Alan Benson stated those were Brian Benson’s exact words.”

Alan Benson’s mother, Beth Benson, told the officer she witnessed the threat and saw her husband point the gun at her son. The officer also reported he heard Beth and Alan Benson arguing. He said he heard Alan Benson tell his mother he was scared and that it wasn’t the first time his father had threatened him with the weapon.

Brian Benson is facing a felony charge of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon.

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