Death Threat

All the information has been made public by the County Sheriff's Department so I wanted to share a few thoughts about the pass few days.

Around 9 am Thursday June 12th I received a phone call from City Hall stating that a death threat was made to Isanti Public Officials. The decision was made to put City Hall into lock down. I stated I wanted all Council Members contacted and informed of the threat so they could take whatever measures they felt were warranted. After speaking with administration I talked with our Police Department to get further details and discuss what was happening in the investigation. As I finished my conversation my dog walks to the front door….his hair rises up and he gives a low aggressive growl. I sent my 5 and 3 year old to another room and walk up to the door and peeked out the side window. It was a neighbor but I am not ashamed to say that after the previous two conversations my heart did beat a bit faster as I approached the window.

As it turned out this was a very real and serious threat and ended with the suspect committing suicide. The threat as relayed to me was the person wanted to kill Isanti public officials and then commit suicide. We did not know if he meant City or County Officials at the time of the threats. He accomplished half of the threat and perhaps the actions taken prevented the other half from happening. We will never know for certain. Thankfully the County Sheriff's Department and Isanti City Police Department acted promptly to keep everyone safe.

This is a situation we hope would never happen as we serve the public but it does. I have had several situations were a person has parked in front of my home and just watched the house until I come out then they drive away. I reported these instances and hope nothing ever comes of it. After the February 7th 2008 shooting in Kirkwood, Missouri that killed 5 and left the Mayor seriously wounded, many cities have changed the way they look at security for their officials and for public meetings. Local governing bodies often have to make difficult decisions that may lead to someone becoming angry. This is in the best of times; unfortunately the added economic stress that we are facing only aggravates the situation.