Staff Report

WINONA LAKE — A Winona Lake man is facing an intimidation charge after he allegedly threatened to shoot a woman while he was intoxicated.

Dale W. Minson

Dale W. Minson, 56, 404 Auditorium Blvd., Winona Lake, is facing one count of intimidation while armed with a deadly weapon, a level 5 felony.

According to a probable cause affidavit, at 12:01 p.m. on Sunday, March 7, a Winona Lake Police officer responded to a dispatch.

Someone had called Kosciusko County dispatch and said he was handicapped and being abused by a woman. Being familiar with the address and the people who live there, the officer told dispatch that the caller was probably intoxicated based upon prior contacts there.

The officer met a woman at the door of the residence. She seemed to be upset. The officer started looking for Minson, who had made the 911 call.

He called out to Minson, but Minson did not respond.

The officer asked the woman what was happening. She said Minson was drunk. She told the officer that Minson, while armed with a firearm, asked her to make him food and threatened to shoot her if she didn’t make him the food he wanted.

She told him that if he shot her he would go to jail. Minson told her to leave and said he was going to call police.

The woman took officers to Minson’s room. As she opened the door, Minson shouted “No more. No more.”

His speech was slurred and very hesitant when he talked with the officers. An officer asked if Minson had a gun in his room, and Minson first replied “Huh.” After being asked again, he said “Well.” He later said a handgun was on the nightstand.

Minson started to reach for the gun, but an officer was able to grab and secure it.

An officer asked him what was happening and he said the woman beat him. He said she smacks him around and did so that day.

When asked if he had threatened to shoot the woman, Minson denied it. He said he was concerned for his safety.

Minson had trouble speaking due to being drunk. He said he had started drinking that morning and had drank five beers. He said the incident started earlier that day and again said he was concerned for his safety.

An officer told him that the woman fears for her own safety, especially when he threatens to shoot her. Minson responded “Yeah.”

Minson registered a presumptive positive result of .292% BrAC on a portable breath test. An officer didn’t see any marks on Minson from his alleged beating. The woman denied any physical altercation with Minson.

An officer also saw two bullet holes in the wall, which the woman said were from Minson shooting the gun in the home on a different occasion. Numerous firearms were taken from the home for safekeeping.

Minson was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail on March 7 on a $5,250 surety and cash bond.