DULUTH, Minn. — A 72-year-old Duluth man allegedly threatened to shoot out the windows of an elementary school to attract media attention.
Richard Joseph Neault told an officer he planned to shoot at the school across the street from his house when it was unoccupied, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in St. Louis County District Court.
Neault is charged with felony threats of violence. He remained in the St. Louis County jail Friday night.
The alleged threats followed the Aug. 27 shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis. Two students, ages 8 and 10, were killed. Twenty-one other people, mostly children, were injured. The shooter died by suicide, police said.
On Thursday evening, Neault told a bar worker to “watch the news” and he was going to shoot the windows of the school, the charges say. The worker contacted police, who responded to his house on the 5500 block of West Sixth Street, which is across the park adjacent to Laura MacArthur Elementary School. Neault allegedly admitted to making the threat.
“I know how to get the news crews here,” he allegedly recounted saying to the bar worker. “I’ll take my SKS, all loaded up, and make sure that nobody is in the school, and I’ll take out about five of them (expletive) windows.”
He told an officer he was a disabled veteran and he was upset that media outlets had not responded to his requests to do a story about him, according to the court complaint.
A SKS semiautomatic assault rifle, a homemade shotgun made from steel pipes, and ammunition reportedly were found in Neault’s house during the execution of a search warrant. Handwritten documents that included mentions of weapons and that Neault was a trained killer also were found.
Adelle Wellens, a Duluth School District spokesperson, said Laura MacArthur School students stayed inside for recess on Friday as a precaution.
“We understand that events like this can be unsettling, and we have staff available to provide support for any student or staff who may need it,” Wellens said. “We encourage everyone to remember: if you see something, or hear something, say something.”
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