$100K Bail Set in Rochester Homemade Gun Case

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - Bail has been set at $100,000 for a Rochester man accused of trying to shoot another person with a homemade firearm.

A criminal complaint filed in Olmsted County Court says Rochester police officers were sent to an apartment in northwest Rochester just before 1 PM on last Wednesday regarding a person in crisis. When they arrived, they were told by two witnesses that 21-year-old Meridyan Robertson had attempted to shoot them.

The victims described the firearm as a homemade device constructed from parts purchased at a hardware store. It included a steel pipe with a shotgun shell found inside. The responding officers were able to secure the homemade device and stated they could see strike marks on the shell casing where a makeshift firing pin, fashioned from a bolt, had struck it.

One of the victims told officers that Robertson pointed the device at him and attempted to “slam the device together to make it discharge,” but was unsuccessful. The victim also stated he was afraid Robertson was going to kill him and other family members, and then himself.

The criminal complaint says Robertson was later located by police traveling eastbound on 2nd Street Southwest on a bicycle. He had a backpack in his possession containing shotgun ammunition, camping gear, and perishable items.

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He was formally arraigned last Friday in Olmsted County Court on a felony count of terroristic threats and a misdemeanor domestic assault charge. The court document indicates that Robertson also has pending domestic assault by strangulation charges involving one of the victims in this week’s incident.

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