Charges: Peter Dziuk Had Standoff With SWAT Team After History Of Animosity Towards New Brighton Police

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 67-year-old New Brighton man is facing three felonies and a misdemeanor for allegedly having a standoff with the Ramsey County SWAT team on Wednesday evening.

Peter Michael Dziuk has been charged in Ramsey County court with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, making threats of violence, false imprisonment and a misdemeanor count of domestic assault.

A criminal complaint says that early in the day on April 15, an anonymous caller claimed Dziuk had made threats against the New Brighton police, allegedly planning to use a bonfire to lure police to his home and shoot them from a concealed location. The anonymous tipster said he'd mentioned suicide and "planned to take the police with him." The source also said Dziuk was using "mushrooms, alcohol and marijuana," had firearms, and was very dangerous.

New Brighton police say that after receiving this information they passed it along to Ramsey County Mental Health.

Then, around 7 p.m. that night, New Brighton police received a report that Dziuk was drunk and becoming violent. A caller -- an intimate partner of his for 10 years who was now his roommate -- said he was destroying property, and hitting her.

She said he had a shotgun and was threatening violence against himself if the police were called. When police got a hold of Dziuk on the phone, they say he said he was angry before hanging up the phone.

The Ramsey County SWAT team arrived to the home soon and helped the woman after she got out of the house by climbing out of a window.

They found Dziuk on the back deck of the house, and they say he fired shots. SWAT officers returned fire. No one was injured.

The standoff ended at 6 a.m. on the following day when police entered the home, using tear gas and a police K9, to locate Dziuk and take him into custody.

Court documents say Dziuk has a documented history of hostility towards the city of New Brighton and New Brighton Police Department over "permits for burning and firearms, citations for disorderly conduct and trespass notices."

During a subsequent interview, Dziuk's roommate told investigators he'd knocked her down and repeatedly struck her head in the altercation.

In a post-Miranda interview, court documents say Dziuk admitted he shot the gun after seeing SWAT officers running across his neighbor's yard "to let them know it's dangerous," and described it as a "warning shot."

If convicted, he faces seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine for the charge of second-degree assault.