Morrison County Board meeting turns into 10 minutes of terror

Michael Krejci could tell by the way Gordon Wheeler held the gun that Tuesday morning's meeting of the Morrison County Board was about to go terribly wrong.

Krejci, the man videotaping the proceedings, watched in astonishment as Wheeler, a longtime local bar owner who had been at odds with commissioners for years over his adult entertainment establishments, walked from the back of the board room toward the commissioners, proclaiming that there was one more "piece of business" to tend to.

"I saw the gun -- it was big," Krejci said. "I looked at the door, I looked at the commissioners, and thought, 'Oh my God!' I knew there was going to be something happening here."

Minutes later, after holding several commissioners and a half-dozen others hostage and holding the gun to the head of the county administrator, Wheeler lay dying, taken down by police gunshots that ended a tense 10-minute standoff.

No one else was injured.

Dave Bjerga, assistant superintendent for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said that as of Tuesday night, authorities still hadn't determined what prompted Wheeler to head to the courthouse with a gun.

But he said investigators believe it was rooted in the hard feelings the 60-year-old Wheeler had toward the county.

"I can't say what set it off," Bjerga said. "We won't know until all the interviews are done."

He declined to comment on details of the shooting, including how many times Wheeler was shot. An autopsy is scheduled today in Ramsey County.

'Can't believe this'

According to Bjerga, Krejci and several county officials:

The incident began about 10:20 a.m. at the end of a regular board meeting at the courthouse in Little Falls, Minn. Four of the five commissioners were there.

Krejci said Wheeler, a large man in bib overalls, was sitting "very benignly" in the back row holding a manila envelope. When commissioners moved to adjourn, he stood up and hollered, "One moment, there's another piece of business," Krejci said.

Walking toward the commissioners, Wheeler pulled a red handkerchief off his right hand.

"As I'm seeing this, I can't believe this," Krejci said. "I saw that his thumb was pulled back as though he had the hammer cocked. The gun was visible."

One official ran out the door, and Wheeler told two more people, including a local reporter, that they could leave. Krejci "looked at that big gun and said, 'I'm leaving, too.'"

That left about 10 people still in the room. Krejci ran downstairs and told a receptionist to call police.

Within minutes, several officers, including Sheriff Michel Wetzel, who works out of the same building, were evacuating the courthouse and negotiating with Wheeler to drop the gun. At one point, Wheeler held the gun to the head of County Administrator Tim Houle.

Krejci stood on the steps nearby and listened.

"I heard the officers say he had a gun pointed at the head of someone in the room," Krejci said. "I heard an officer say, 'He raised the gun.' And I heard an officer say, 'Place the gun down.'"

Seconds later, the board room erupted in gunfire.

Multiple shots were fired, Bjerga said, and Wheeler was struck. He was taken to St. Gabriel's Hospital in Little Falls, where he died.

After the courthouse was cleared, authorities closed it for the day so investigators could study the scene.

Todd Kosovich, a senior prosecutor with the Morrison County attorney's office who was not at the courthouse when the standoff took place, described what happened as "a sock in the gut."

He said Wheeler apparently entered the building through the administrative entrance to the courthouses, where there is no metal detector.

History of conflict

For years, Wheeler, who owned a strip club called the Camp Bar near Camp Ripley, had been battling the county over zoning and liquor licensing issues involving adult entertainment businesses.

Roger Kuklok, a retired county planning and zoning director, said much of the trouble started a few years ago when Wheeler built a sports bar next to the Camp Bar and expanded his adult-use entertainment operation in violation of county zoning laws. About the same time, he purchased an old supper club between Little Falls and Long Prairie that he called Lookin' Fine Smut and Porno.

He wasn't supposed to open it because it didn't have a functioning septic system. But he opened it anyway.

Later, the county closed it because he was in violation of zoning ordinances prohibiting adult entertainment in that location, Kuklok said.

A few years ago, Wheeler was convicted for promoting and profiting from prostitution after police conducted an undercover sting operation at the Camp Bar. He later lost his liquor license.

When a judge ordered the bar closed, Wheeler sued the county and several officials, including Kuklok and Houle.

That suit, and several others Wheeler filed against the county, were dismissed.

Wheeler has since written many letters to the local newspaper claiming that the County Board had violated his rights.

"I didn't mind Gordon," Kuklok said. "He never was hostile or raised his voice. He was a rolly-polly guy, a teddy bear. ... But Gordon ... thought the government was corrupt and the county attorney was corrupt and we were all out to get him.''

No one saw him as a physical threat, Kosovich said. "He was the kind of guy that would have litigated us to death but never would have actually harmed somebody," he said.

Until Tuesday.

"It's a tragic end to a rather odd chapter in dealing with Mr. Wheeler, and I'm rather sad about it," Kosovich said. "But it is an absolute miracle nobody else was hurt."

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