Donald Hanson, 53, accidentally discharged a replica black-powder pistol and wounded a shooting companion.

Tuesday, May 30, 2000

Donald Hanson, 53, accidentally discharged a replica black-powder pistol and wounded a shooting companion.

According to an Austin Police Department report, the accidental shooting occurred near 7:50 p.m. Monday at the Cedar Valley Conservation Club located along U.S. Highway 218 North.

Wounded in the accident was Arlen Schamber, 49, who suffered a puncture wound and fractured bones to a bicep area.

Hanson told APD officers, he was at a table at the 50-yard line on the shooting range and had just loaded his replica 1851 .36 caliber black-powder pistol, when it discharged striking his friend, Schamber, who was standing 3-feet away.

Hanson rushed his companion to the Austin Medical Center – Mayo Health System emergency room, and authorities were called.

Hanson told investigators the replica gun was newly-purchased, and Monday was the first time it had been discharged.

Another pig stolen

A second "Pigs in the City" is missing.

According to the Austin Police Department, Target Store of Austin loss prevention employees reported the theft was captured on video surveillance cameras early Monday.

A white late-model Chevrolet Blazer is seen driving slowing by the pig decorated with Target emblems and located near the northeast entrance to the strip mall in northwest Austin.

When the vehicle stops a second time, individuals exit the SUV and loaded the pig into the rear of the vehicle, then drove away from the area.

The pig, like all the others being displayed by the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce, is a concrete model weighing 400 pounds.

The first pig stolen was from Alpha Orthodontics and replaced.

Both thefts remain under investigation.

Man shoots self

ADAMS – Raymond Tufte is recovering in a Rochester hospital after a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest Monday morning.

According to a Mower County Sheriff’s Department report, Tufte and his wife, Lucy, were apparently involved in a domestic dispute at their rural Hayfield home over the Memorial Day weekend.

The wife left the home Monday morning to visit her parents in Adams Township. After her arrival at the residence, the husband also arrived.

The wife hid in a bathroom with a portable telephone and called the emergency 9-1-1 to summon the Mower County Sheriff’s Department.

After the husband and wife had a physical altercation, the husband left the residence and first sat in his semi-tractor trailer rig and later a pickup truck parked in the wife’s parents’ farmyard.

According to the sheriff’s report, Tufte then walked to the front door of the residence, carrying a .22 caliber rifle. "When he got to the door, he said ‘Watch this!’ and shot himself in the chest," Sheriff Barry J. Simonson told reporters today.

Also at the residence was Michael Mullenbach, who witnessed the argument and who was the owner of the rifle.

The Adams Ambulance Service was summoned to the scene to render emergency first aid to the victim. Then, the Mayo One Air Ambulance Service was called and arrived to transport Tufte to a Rochester hospital for surgery to remove the single bullet he fired into his chest at close-range.