Friend: Suspect in Officer Slaying 'Not a Monster'

A friend of the man accused of gunning down a central Minnesota police officer says the suspect is "not a monster."
    
Jeff Scoles Jr. of Sartell says suspect Ryan Michael Larson "was a normal person." Scoles finds it hard to believe Larson is suspected of killing Cold Spring police Officer Tom Decker.
    
Scoles owns a bar in Cold Spring. He says Larson lived the past two years in an apartment above the bar and was a bartender at Scoles' other bar in Sartell.
    
Scoles says Larson was doing his homework at the Sartell bar Thursday and was in a "good mood" when he left.
    
That night, Decker was responding to a report of a suicidal man when he was shot twice in downtown Cold Spring. Larson is in jail.

(Photo: Ryan Michael Larson)

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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