Man Facing Attempted Murder Charge In St. Cloud Bar Shooting
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 24-year-old Mississippi man is accused of shooting a bar employee in St. Cloud last weekend after he was kicked out of the bar for giving alcohol to underage girls, according to charges filed Tuesday in Stearns County Court.
Cordney Terell Holmes was charged with attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with the incident, which happened Saturday outside the Press Bar in St. Cloud. Police are also still investigating as they don't believe it's his real identity.
According to the charges, St. Cloud Police were called to the bar on Fifth Avenue South on a report of a shooting. When authorities arrived, they found a victim on the ground who had been shot multiple times in the abdomen and stomach.
The complaint states the victim -- James Alan Gackstetter, 31, of St. Cloud -- was an employee at the bar and had asked Holmes to leave after it was discovered he was providing alcohol to two underage girls. Employees, including Gackstetter, got them out of the bar and that's where an altercation happened. Holmes and the two girls yelled at and spit on the Gackstetter.
Holmes then pulled out a gun and fired several shots at Gackstetter, hitting the victim at least twice. Holmes then fled the scene. Officers at the scene found as many as six shell casings from a .380-caliber gun, the complaint states.
Gackstetter was taken to St. Cloud hospital for emergency surgery and had suffered three gunshot wounds, two to the abdomen one to the right index finger. His condition is not yet known.
Police tracked Holmes to an apartment just blocks away from the bar and saw him hiding in an entryway, the complaint states. Holmes denied to police being in downtown St. Cloud at any point that night and being involved in a shooting. He later admitted to police that was in the area and said photos taken of him with the two women and the gun used in the shooting were him.
If convicted, Holmes faces up to 40 years in prison and a $30,000 fine.
