Mpls Man Wrestles Gun From Apartment Intruder
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Travis Lamotte and his cousin were enjoying the cool breeze Sunday afternoon when a masked gunman entered Lamotte's Minneapolis apartment and told the cousins to get on the floor.
"All of a sudden, I look at the door, and [the gunman] had the gun in our face," Lamotte said, who lives in the Sexton Lofts building, located near the intersection of 5th Street and Portland Avenue.
Lamotte said the gunman tied up his female cousin, but had trouble tying Lamotte's hands while holding on to his gun. That's when Lamotte saw an opportunity.
"He set the gun down, and I went and grabbed it," Lamotte said. "We wrestled for quite a while."
During the scuffle for the gun, Lamotte said a shot went off that pierced his cousin's thigh.
Lamotte eventually wrestled the gun away from the intruder and smacked him with it. He then fired two rounds at the intruder as he fled the apartment.
Lamotte said it was the first time he had ever shot a gun.
The intruder eventually got away in a vehicle.
Nicloe Toth, one of Lamotte's neighbors, heard the shots and ran to her window to see the intruder running. Others in the Sexton building who heard the shots went to see what had happened.
"One of the residents here was smart enough to grab her camera, and she got a couple of pictures of the vehicle the person got in to," Toth said.
Another neighbor, who's a graphic artist, used his skills to produce the images for police, Toth said. People on a nearby rooftop also snapped shots of the gunman as he ran.
According to Lamotte, the gunman left behind a bag full of zip ties that he to be used to tie Lamotte and his cousin up.
Lamotte said his cousin is recovering from her wound, but is a little shaken.
Police have yet to make any arrests in connection to this incident, and they also advise that people comply with a gunman's demands. They said Lamotte was lucky.
