by Dennis Dalman
A St. Joseph man who recovered from a gunshot wound at the St. Cloud Hospital has been charged with 13 felony counts and one misdemeanor.
Jason Patrick Cully, 38, was placed in the Stearns County Jail after his hospital recovery.
The charges against him stem from events that led to the shooting by a Stearns County deputy on June 21 at a home on Able Street in St. Joseph.
Cully was charged with two felony counts of threats of violence; four felony counts of assault with a dangerous weapon; seven felony counts of unlawful possession of a weapon; and one misdemeanor count of assault.
According to a news release from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Cully began making verbal threats of violence on June 20, causing St. Joseph police officers to respond. When they approached Cully, he allegedly pointed a gun at the officers and then ran away. That night, Cully repeatedly called the police department and made more threats of violence, according to the report.
It was then that the Stearns County Attorney’s Office issued a warrant to arrest Cully. At 5 p.m. the next day, June 21, members of the Stearns/Benton County SWAT Team tried to serve the warrant at Cully’s place of residence in the 200 block of Able Street E. After seeing the officers arrive, Cully reportedly ran across the yard toward a neighbor’s house. Stearns County Deputy Tyler Thunstedt ordered Cully to stop running and drop his weapon, but Cully ignored the commands from Thunstedt and pointed his gun toward the deputy, the report states.
At that point, Thunstedt fired his department rifle three times, striking Cully once. Thunstedt, who has eight years of law enforcement experience, is on standard administrative leave, according to the release.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the shooting incident.
Jason Patrick Cully