Suspect pleads not guilty to role in standoff

Published 11:00 am Friday, September 16, 2011

A 31-year-old Austin man pleaded not guilty Thursday to accusations that he fired a shotgun at another man and subsequently stood off with police all night.

Andrew Michael Larson entered the not guilty plea in Mower County District Court. He faces two dangerous weapon felony charges, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and possessing a pistol with a previous felony conviction.

According to a court complaint, Austin police were called to the 1400 block of 10th Ave. NW around 10:30 p.m. the night of Sept. 3 on a report of an assault with a gun.

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When police arrived, they met with three men, two of whom witnessed Larson allegedly firing the gun. One of the men, Larson’s roommate, said he and Larson had been arguing earlier but the argument ended, and Larson left to go somewhere in his car.

In the meantime, Larson’s roommate reportedly left the residence, too, leaving the other two men there alone. According to the court complaint, Larson came “flying around the corner” in his car shortly after his roommate left.

The two men told police Larson approached them and said, “What’s up? You got a problem or something?” Larson was reportedly waving the gun around and pointed it at one of the men. The man told police he was able to dart behind a tree before Larson pulled the trigger, according to court documents.

The men told officers Larson went into the house after firing the gun.

According to the court complaint, officers from the Austin Police Department, Mower County Sheriff’s office, Minnesota State Patrol and the Special Incident Response Team (SIRT) set up a perimeter around the house to get Larson to surrender his weapon. SIRT spend several hours attempting to contact him, and he surrendered shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday morning.

After arresting Larson, officers matched the shotgun shell casings from outside the house with those in the gun. The gun was found in a crawl space in Larson’s bedroom, according to court documents.

Larson told police he “would not have shot anybody.” He said he didn’t recall shooting the gun, but later said he has no idea why he shot it and that it was “stupid.”

Larson is scheduled for a jury trial beginning Dec. 5.