Minneapolis man sentenced to 10 years for threatening Hennepin County officials

A Minneapolis man was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for threatening Hennepin County government officials and illegally possessing a firearm as a felon, according to the office of U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Andrew Luger. His time in prison will be followed by three years of supervised release.

On June 22, 2022, Peter Robert Berry, 60, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a firearm as a felon and one count of interstate transmission of a threat, according to court documents.

Court documents say that on June 24, 2021, the Hennepin County District Court issued an arrest warrant for Berry after he missed a hearing. Berry then called an employee of Hennepin County Community Corrections to ask questions about his court appearance. During the call, Berry got angry and threatened to “shoot up the place,” according to prosecutors.

The same day, Berry left a voicemail for a Hennepin County Probation Officer and demanded a call back before he starts “killing everybody,” court officials said.

The next day, Berry called a Hennepin County Service Center employee who told him that he had an active warrant for his arrest due to his failure to appear in court. Berry told the employee that he was going to “come down and kill everybody, all the judges, clerks, and deputies.”

On June 29, Berry left a voicemail for a Hennepin county Public Defender, expressing dissatisfaction in the representation he received in his criminal case. According to court officials, he threatened that people were going to die and he said he knew where the public defender lived.

On July 10, 2020 and April 7, 2021, Berry unlawfully possessed three firearms. According to court documents, he has prior felony convictions in Hennepin, Ramsey and Dakota counties and is prohibited from owning firearms or ammunition at any time.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and the Minneapolis Police Department.