Man charged with attempted murder after officer shot in Granite Falls

A man is facing several criminal charges after a shooting earlier this week hurt an officer while he was executing a search warrant in Granite Falls.

William Edward Schindler, 26, is charged with three counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, three counts of first-degree assault of a peace officer and illegal gun possession.

RELATED: Officer shot while serving search warrant in Granite Falls; suspect in custody

Those charges stem from a shooting Monday afternoon when a multi-agency team of officers was executing a search warrant near Bergeson Drive and 11th Avenue in Granite Falls, just a few blocks from the intersection of Highway 212 and Highway 23.

Court documents state that officers were trying to arrest Schindler on multiple felony warrants and believed he was at the home of another man. As officers entered the home, they immediately arrested the homeowner, Jordan Keith Ross, who answered the door, but then started taking gunfire from the upper level of the home.

A criminal complaint states that one of the gunshots hit agent Jason Hay in the lower torso. The officers, who brought Ross with them, retreated outside to safety. The other two officers at the front door weren’t hit, nor was Ross.

After they retreated, the complaint states that law enforcement tried for around 90 minutes to convince Schindler to surrender. At one point during that time, a third person who was in the house came out and was taken into custody, and it notes that Schindler asked officers if anyone was hit, saying he didn’t mean to shoot anyone.

Eventually, he came outside and was arrested.

The third man who was arrested later told authorities that the three of them had been in the downstairs area of the home when they saw law enforcement approach on surveillance cameras. At that time, Schindler told the other two that he wasn’t going to get arrested and ran upstairs before officers got to the home, the complaint states.

After all three were arrested, a SWAT team searched the home and found a .40-caliber pistol inside a hole in a wall along with multiple .40-caliber casings.

Schindler has previous convictions for drug possession, the complaint notes.

He’s now being held in jail on a $2 million bond and has his next court appearance set for April 24. Attempted murder carries up to 20 years in jail, as does first-degree assault.

Ross is also charged with drug possession and having a short-barreled shotgun.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says Hay has 14 years of law enforcement experience. He’s now on standard administrative leave.

A Swift County deputy, who the BCA isn’t identifying because of undercover work, also fired during the incident.

The BCA is leading the investigation and, once finished, will turn over its findings to the Yellow Medicine County Attorney’s Office for review.