Juan Zamarripa charged in armed Faribault standoff
FARIBAULT, Minn. -- A SWAT team fired pepperball munitions and nonlethal rounds in order to subdue a man in a Faribault standoff, according to charges filed in Rice County.
Juan Zamarripa, 39, faces felony charges of terroristic threats and second-degree assault, as well as a gross misdemeanor drug charge, in connection to the Wednesday incident.
According to the criminal complaint, Faribault officers were dispatched shortly after 10:30 p.m. to an apartment on Fifth Street Northwest and Central Avenue. Two men reported that they were walking down the street listening to music on a phone when Zamarripa emerged from the apartment and began yelling at them.
"They were unable to completely understand what the suspect was saying. The suspect pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the pair while continuing to yell. He then went into an apartment," police said on Thursday.
When officers and Rice County deputies arrived, Zamarripa refused to come outside to talk with them and was overheard saying "Shoot me. Shoot me. If you shoot me, you'll die," according to the complaint.
Rice County charges say at one point he broke the window and waved the handgun towards the apartments across the street. On Thursday, Faribault police said in a release that Zamarripa broke a window and pointed a handgun at officers, who needed to retreat behind cover.
A responding SWAT team eventually needed to deploy pepperball munitions following unsuccessful de-escalation and negotiations, and Zamarripa exited the apartment, the complaint said.
Zamarripa allegedly refused to comply, tossed his handgun to the ground and told officers to shoot him as he walked toward the location of the gun. That's when the SWAT team fired a nonlethal round at his leg – incapacitating him – and took him into custody.
Authorities say he had a baggie with methamphetamine residue and a 9mm bullet in his pocket.
If convicted, Zamarripa could face up to seven years in prison on the assault charge.
