Suspect is captured in Winsted — comments
May 3, 2008 by Lynda Jensen, Editor
Filed under General
A suspect was captured in Winsted Thursday who was involved in a Watertown Township shooting early that morning, according to Carver County Sheriff Bud Olson. Ryan Lindeen, 44, (unknown address) was arrested after allegedly shooting a female in the arm and leg with a .22 caliber rifle after a struggle. Lindeen’s car was towed from the Holy Trinity cemetery in Winsted Thursday afternoon at about 4 p.m.
UPDATE: to read the full article, click here.
The most troubling part about this is that NONE of the schools in the area were notified (other than Watertown). There were kids play across the street from where this deranged indivdual was caught and the police did NOT notify the schools. I want to know why. I sure hope Mr. Rehman provides an answer quickly.
It happened like this: Winsted Police Chief Mike Henrich was notified that a suspicious car was parked in the cemetery. He checked it out, and to his surprise, found the fugitive in his car. At first, he thought the guy had tried to kill himself inside the vehicle, but the guy moved (he was asleep). So, Henrich made the move to apprehend the suspect, by himself, before the guy took off and caused a chase (or who knows what). Luckily, it all went well and the fugitive did not resist. All of the news releases received by the newspaper were from the Carver County Sheriff Bud Olson, because the shooting took place in Watertown Township. It’s their case. I don’t think McLeod County had much to do with anything, other than guarding the car while it was being towed.
There’s GOTTA be more to this story…
Lynda – The fact is that the Winsted Police were sent the information at 10:30 AM and did NOT notify any of the schools. Why did they not notify the schools? Why was Lester Prairie school on lockdown since before noon on the same day? How did they find out?
I understand the citizens’ concerns. This incident happened outside of our county. It was not a school-related incident. The information that was given to us indicated that the suspect was traveling in the opposite direction. I take the protection of our children very seriously. The reason Watertown Schools were notified was due to the close proximity of the incident to the high school. We do not put our schools into lockdown everytime there is an incident, unless we believe there is a threat based on the information we have. Do we lock down every school in the county, every time there is a situation that occurs 10 miles away, 15 miles away, 20 miles away? Where do we stop? School notification is done by the local police based on the procedures that are in place with the schools in their jurisdiction. The School District policies are not universal and each school district has their own protocols as to why, when, how, and under what circumstances they go into lockdown. Chief Henrich and I have spoken and will be looking into this and speaking to our school administratiors to get their input. I will respond to any comments as time allows.
Respectfully
Sheriff Scott Rehmann
I was in contact with Lester Prairie Public Schools and Superintendent Joe Miller all day while the suspect was “on the run”. In my conversations with Superintendent Miller, based on intelligence information and press releases from the Carver County Sheriff’s Office, we did not feel our children were in serious danger. The school was on heightened alert, but, not in a lockdown situation.
I also support the comments made by Sheriff Rehmann.
Chief of Police Robert N. Carlson
City of Lester Prairie – Police Department
I completely agree with the decision not to lock down schools all over the area based on a domestic shooting incident in Watertown. It made sense to lock down Watertown schools because the incident took place very close to the school.
If you lock down all the schools in the area to protect the students, why not lock down St. Mary’s Hospital and Home to protect the vulnerable nursing home residents? St. Mary’s Nursing home is located one block north of the public school. As the McLeod County Sheriff stated, where do you draw the line?