Inset: William Piar (Lake City Police Department). Background: The Subway restaurant on the 1300 block of North Lakeshore Drive in Lake City, Minn. (Google Maps).
An 81-year-old man from Minnesota is facing serious charges after allegedly shooting the owner of a Subway restaurant located near his residence. The two have reportedly been involved in a long-standing feud.
William Piar is facing charges of first-degree attempted murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, and two counts of second-degree assault. These charges were detailed in reports from local news sources, including the Rochester Post Bulletin.
The altercation took place on a Wednesday.
The shooting incident unfolded near the 1300 block of North Lakeshore Drive in Lake City, a scenic area along the Mississippi River, about 70 miles south of Minneapolis. Authorities noted that Piar resided behind both the Subway restaurant and other nearby businesses.
Around 1:30 p.m. that day, Piar allegedly fired shots at the Subway building. This information comes from a criminal complaint highlighted by local radio station KROC.
During the incident, the restaurant owner, whose name has not been released, sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Officials have suggested that ongoing “property disputes” between the two men might have contributed to the shooting.
Lake City police officers arrived at the scene to find Piar in his backyard wearing a black stocking hat and a black coat, according to the court document.
Officers ordered the defendant to show them his hands, but he allegedly would not, instead keeping his “right hand in his front right coat pocket” and telling them, “No,” according to the police department.
An officer fired his “less than lethal shotgun” — which carried “bean bag rounds” — at Piar and hit him, causing the suspect to pull his hand out of his coat pocket and show a “dark grey or black firearm,” police say. Then, officers told the defendant to drop the gun, and still, he would not, police said, leading them to fire the bean bag rounds at him again.
“At one point he requested officers to shoot him,” the court document says of Piar.
Finally, after officers fired more “less than lethal” rounds, Piar fell to the ground and dropped his weapon, with his left hand “bleeding heavily.”
The defendant was handcuffed behind his back and his wound was tended to. Officers then turned their attention to the victim.
The man was inside an apartment attached to the Subway restaurant, “lying on the floor holding a towel to his abdominal area,” the complaint states, and he had a “significant amount of blood on his pants near the waistline.”
“The victim”s wife and children were present and there were Subway employees trying to help the victim as well,” it goes on. “The male was moaning in pain and stated he had been shot.”
Once Piar was brought into police custody and the scene was declared safe, the shooting victim was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. His current status is unclear.
Piar appeared in Goodhue County court on Friday morning and was given $2 million bail. He is set to return to court next month.
Customers are believed to have been in the restaurant at the time of the shooting.
