The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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  • Jordon VanRyswyk appeared in court Monday for alleged gun threat Friday.

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March 4, 2013

Suspect told police he felt harassed before gun threat

Man appeared in court for felony threat charge Monday

By Dan Nienaber Free Press Staff Writer

MANKATO — A 25-year-old Mankato man told police he felt like he was being harassed when he threatened three women with a shotgun outside his Grove Street house Friday morning.

Jordon Allen VanRyswyk also told officers he had gone to a friend’s house to get some sleep. He told them that’s why he wasn’t home while Mankato police officers and the Minnesota River Valley Tactical had his house surrounded.

Police were called to VanRyswyk’s house at 117 Grove St. at about 4:20 a.m. Friday. Three women reported they were knocking on VanRyswyk’s door when he came outside, yelled and pumped a shotgun in front of them.

One of the women said she had recently ended a relationship with VanRyswyk and was at the house to get her property. The women told police they believed they were going to be shot and feared for their lives as a result of VanRyswyk’s actions.

The house was surrounded and police officers used a loudspeaker to attempt to get VanRyswyk to come out. They later learned he had left before they arrived and arrested him without incident when he walked up to the house at about 7:15 a.m. Friday.

When he was questioned, VanRyswyk said there had been an earlier confrontation with his former girlfriend. He said it started after she came home from work the night before. VanRyswyk said he asked the woman to leave as a result of the argument, but she wouldn’t leave until he went for his gun. Once he grabbed it, “she bolted,” he told an investigator.

He told the woman he was leaving town after the argument, but she showed up with her two friends later and started knocking on the door. VanRyswyk said the lights and music were off, but they kept knocking until he became so mad, “I had to go out there with the shotgun because I had no idea who was out there,” he allegedly said.

He denied pumping the shotgun and told investigators it was never loaded because there was no ammunition in the house. VanRyswyk also said the women were still yelling and pounding on his door when he left for his friend’s house with his dog. He was in court Monday for a felony charge of making terroristic threats and two misdemeanor domestic assault charges.

Investigators also searched the house Friday. Officers reported finding ecstasy, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, digital scales, $800 in cash and an unopened safe that smelled like raw marijuana.

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