MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 19-year-old northern Minnesota man faces six felony charges for allegedly having a gun on school property and brandishing it while threatening two people in a road rage incident not far from the school.
Seth Matthew James Nelson, of Hibbing, is charged with: one count of being a felon in possession of a gun, two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of terroristic threats, and one count of possession of a weapon on school property, the Itasca County Attorney’s office says.
The charges stem from an incident that happened Monday afternoon, when two people reported being threatened with a gun.
According to a criminal complaint, the victims told officers that they were leaving the Grand Rapids High School parking lot when they almost got into a crash with another car. That car then followed them out of the parking lot and south down Highway 38.
At the Fourth Street intersection, the car pulled up beside them. The window rolled down and the victims reported seeing Nelson and another individual. The victims said Nelson was angry and said he was going to shoot them three times. As he drove off, he raised a handgun.
When officers found Nelson, he was about 300 feet from Grand Rapids High School. While executing a search warrant, officers found a .22-caliber loaded pistol in his car’s center console and ammunition in a backpack.
Nelson did not want to talk to the officers, the criminal complaint said. However, he did say that the passenger in his car had nothing to do with the incident.
The passenger told officers that Nelson was arguing with people they stopped at the intersection. She said she told Nelson to calm down, but did not recall seeing a gun. However, she did know that Nelson had a gun, as she said she’d seen it in his backpack a week prior.
Nelson made his first court appearance Tuesday. The court set his bail at $100,000. He’s slated to appear in court again on Monday.
In 2010, Nelson was adjudicated delinquent of burglary, and a year later he was adjudicated delinquent of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, records show. An adjudicated delinquent is a child that has been convicted of a felony-level crime. Nelson also violated his probation many times in regards to these offenses.
