Man Charged With Making Racially-Motivated Threats Against Neighbors
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A South St. Paul man faces criminal charges after two women say he threatened to hurt them because one of them was black.
Daniel Mark Koppes, 57, was charged Tuesday with one count each of threatening violence, fourth-degree assault and disorderly conduct for what happened last Tuesday night.
The Ramsey County Attorney's Office says two women, one who is black and one who is white, called 911 to report that their neighbor was firing Roman candle fireworks at their garage and vehicle.
Officers arrived to hear Koppes yelling, "You c**ns don't belong in this neighborhood!" while hosing down firework remnants in the alley. Officers say they could still smell gun powder.
Koppes, who is white, kept yelling racially-abusive remarks at the women in the presence of officers, who say the women where calmly telling him to stop.
Officers say when they told Koppes to stop, he said, "I have a gun, but I didn't shoot at them."
The women told investigators that when they first confronted Koppes about firing the Roman candles, he told them that he was sick of "the c**n" coming into his neighborhood," and that he could easily kill them. They say he also sprayed both of them with his hose.
Koppes could face up to five years in prison if convicted of the felony charge of threatening violence.