WINONA — A Stockton man was charged Wednesday in Winona County District Court with four felony charges after allegedly encouraging a woman to play Russian roulette with a loaded handgun during a lengthy assault Sunday night into Monday morning.
U.s. 14 was temporarily closed when officers from several departments went to his Stockton residence to arrest him on Wednesday afternoon, Winona County Chief Deputy Ron Ganrude said. Nickolas James Meyers, 35, was arrested without incident, he said.
Meyers faces charges of second-degree assault, first-degree aggravated witness tampering,terroristic threats and false imprisonment, according to court records. His first appearance in court was Thursday. Unconditional bail was set at $200,000; he remains in jail.
Ganrude said his office was notified early Wednesday that a 29-year-old Stockton woman was at a Rochester hospital. She told nurses she had been badly beaten, and it took two days for her to recover enough to get away.
She told a deputy she was at Meyers' residence when he began beating her and threatening her. At one point, he took out a handgun and threatened her with it. Eventually, he encouraged her to put the gun to her head and pull the trigger.
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She did and the gun only clicked.
He tried it a few times and nothing happened, Ganrude said.
When he opened the cylinder, he showed her a cartridge was inside, he said.
Because a weapon was involved, the county called out the Emergency Response Team, State Patrol and Winona and Goodview police to surround the home and block traffic, Ganrude said.
