A fuller picture is emerging of the hostage-taking yesterday at the Morrison County Board of Commissioners.

Police took down the prospective shooter.

This story posted last night in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

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.

[more]

KARE NBC-11 (Minneapolis/St. Paul) interviewed one of the Commissioners held hostage. (Accompanying video is here.):

... That gunman was Gordon Wheeler, a man Morrison County commissioners knew well. The board had denied him a liquor license because of a felony conviction for promoting prostitution. In 2007, Wheeler sued the county. And his adult businesses have been shut down because of county action.

That long-standing feud ended Tuesday when Wheeler took ten people hostage at gunpoint, including Commissioner Wenzel.

"I thought about my family a lot - my grandchildren, my wife and my children, thought of them off and on through the whole episode," says Tom Wenzel.

And about a half hour after it all started, authorities shot Wheeler. He later died at a local hospital.

And while it's not clear yet exactly what happened in that room or why Gordon Wheeler decided to take hostages, Tom Wenzel says he's glad no one was hurt and thankful he can still enjoy his home and his family.

"That's just the way it is, life is beautiful and I want to be around a long time yet," says Tom.

[more]