Police recovered guns, body armor and more than 1,200 rounds of ammunition when they arrested a man on Tuesday in Woodbury.

Samuel D. Shoen, 35, was known for allegedly selling grenades for $375 apiece and having ties to the white supremacist group Hammerskins, according to charges filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court.

Shoen is charged with second-degree possession of meth, three counts of possession of a firearm by an ineligible person and commission of a crime while wearing or possessing a bullet-resistant vest. Shoen does not have a permanent address.

According to the complaint: Police began investigating Shoen after a confidential informant told police in November that Shoen had dozens of grenades and carried a fully automatic Uzi.

The informant tried to buy grenades from Shoen, but Shoen said they were traded for marijuana, the complaint said. Shoen later allegedly sold the informant a gun that was reported stolen in 2009.

A second informant traveled with Shoen to his grow house in northern Minnesota but took Shoen's car and drove it back to the metro when Shoen grew suspicious of his motives. The two had stopped at a motel, and the informant left while Shoen was showering.

A gun and body armor were recovered from the car, the charges allege.

On Tuesday, Shoen returned to the Twin Cities because he was told his car was in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Vadnais Heights. Police were waiting for him, and followed the car he was in, a Saturn, as it left the store.

Shoen allegedly threw a plastic bag of meth out the window when police activated their lights and sirens. The State Patrol used a PIT (precision immobilization technique) maneuver to force the Saturn off Interstate 694 near Valley Creek Road in Woodbury, the charges said.

Shoen and two others were removed from the car. Shoen was wearing a ballistic vest tied together with twine and had a pistol magazine in his jacket pocket, the charges allege.

Police recovered another vest, a loaded Sig Sauer AR-15 rifle, three loaded 30-round AR-15 magazines and a loaded 60-round magazine from the car, the complaint said. A backpack also had more than 1,200 rounds of ammunition for the AR-15.

A loaded handgun was recovered from the front passenger floorboard, charges allege. A passenger told police that Shoen said it was his "last day" and that he "was not going down without a fight."

Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708

Twitter: @ChaoStrib