Inset: William Piar (Lake City Police Department). Background: The Subway restaurant on the 1300 block of North Lakeshore Drive in Lake City, Minn. (Google Maps).
An 81-year-old Minnesota man living behind a Subway restaurant is accused of shooting the owner of the shop — a man with whom the octogenarian had been feuding for years.
William Piar has been charged with first-degree attempted murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree assault, according to local reports such as from the Rochester Post Bulletin.
The incident occurred on Wednesday.
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The shooting happened near the 1300 block of North Lakeshore Drive in Lake City, located right along the waterfront of the Mississippi River some 70 miles south of Minneapolis. Piar lived behind the Subway restaurant and its adjoining establishments, authorities said.
At about 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Piar began shooting a gun at the Subway building, according to a criminal complaint shared by local radio station KROC.
A man — who authorities have not identified except by saying he owned the sandwich shop — was shot in the abdomen during gunfire. The two men had apparently been having "property disputes" for years, authorities allege.
Lake City police officers arrived at the scene to find Piar in his backyard wearing a black stocking hat and a black coat, according to the court document.
Officers ordered the defendant to show them his hands, but he allegedly would not, instead keeping his "right hand in his front right coat pocket" and telling them, "No," according to the police department.
An officer fired his "less than lethal shotgun" — which carried "bean bag rounds" — at Piar and hit him, causing the suspect to pull his hand out of his coat pocket and show a "dark grey or black firearm," police say. Then, officers told the defendant to drop the gun, and still, he would not, police said, leading them to fire the bean bag rounds at him again.
"At one point he requested officers to shoot him," the court document says of Piar.
Finally, after officers fired more "less than lethal" rounds, Piar fell to the ground and dropped his weapon, with his left hand "bleeding heavily."
The defendant was handcuffed behind his back and his wound was tended to. Officers then turned their attention to the victim.
The man was inside an apartment attached to the Subway restaurant, "lying on the floor holding a towel to his abdominal area," the complaint states, and he had a "significant amount of blood on his pants near the waistline."
"The victim's wife and children were present and there were Subway employees trying to help the victim as well," it goes on. "The male was moaning in pain and stated he had been shot."
Once Piar was brought into police custody and the scene was declared safe, the shooting victim was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. His current status is unclear.
Piar appeared in Goodhue County court on Friday morning and was given $2 million bail. He is set to return to court next month.
Customers are believed to have been in the restaurant at the time of the shooting.
