Updated: Native Mob member faces seven felony counts following gun incident

Talk about it

A Welch, Minn., man faces seven felony charges after allegedly firing a handgun at two people on the Fond du Lac Reservation late Sunday night.

Patrick Charles Lussier, 25, was charged in Carlton County Court on Wednesday with two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, one count of terroristic threats, one count of endangering safety by discharge of a firearm, and one count of reckless discharge of a firearm within a municipality.

According to Cloquet Police Chief Wade Lamirande, Lussier did not come quietly.

Lamirande wrote the following in his weekly letter to the city:

"Because of the nature of the call, the Consolidated Emergency Response Team (CERT) was activated. The residence was secured; chemical gas was deployed into the residence after the suspects refused police orders to vacate the residence. The home owner and one female suspect exited the residence with the male suspect who resisted officers. The male suspect is a known member of the Native Mob. Bail was set at 150,000, no cash option. The same suspect was arrested a day earlier for allegedly shoplifting from L & M Supply. The suspect made threats toward officers and physically resisted his arrest. Officers deployed a taser to complete the arrest."

In court, Probation Agent Steven Johnson informed Judge Dale Wolf that Lussier has had 71 prior charges and 80 prior warrants issued against him, and County Attorney Thom Pertler indicated the complaint against Lussier quite possibly could be amended to include more serious charges as discovery continues to come in.

“Lussier’s name just keeps coming up in relation to other people getting hurt, armed incidents and guns,” Pertler told the judge, including possible tie-ins with Michael William Siewert, 22, who has been charged in the second-degree murder of Cristyna Leah Watson, whose body was discovered Oct. 4 outside a home on Reservation Road in Cloquet, as well as the incident where Stephan Smith was shot in the foot for gang-related discipline by Siewert.

“Those are some nasty combinations,” said Pertler. “I have reason to believe that [Lussier] has successfully managed to bail out in the past – and it’s not working.”

Pertler requested bail on Lussier be set at $150,000 with no cash (10 percent) option for what he said are both public safety concerns as well as Lussier’s own safety.

Speaking on his own behalf, Lussier told Judge Wolf that he has never actually been charged with anything more serious than misdemeanors in the past because most of the felony charges against him were either dropped or thrown out. Additionally, he said the reason for most of the warrants issued against him were because he was appearing in another county at the time he was summoned.

Pertler reminded Judge Wolf, ‘By his own admission, Lussier has been bragging about being a member of the Native Mob.’”

The criminal complaint filed in the case indicated that Lussier’s numerous prior convictions implicate him in several felony crimes of violence, including a fifth-degree controlled substance charge in Carlton County in 2008 and a fourth-degree assault conviction in 2009 in St. Louis County.

Wolf set Lussier’s bail at $150,000 with no cash option, and his next appearance is tentatively set for Nov. 26.

According to the complaint filed against Lussier, on Sunday, Nov. 11, at approximately 11:30 p.m. officers from the Fond du Lac Police, Cloquet Police and the Carlton County Sheriff’s departments responded to the 1700 block of Blue Spruce Drive in west Cloquet following the report of a man discharging a firearm at another person.

When officers arrived on the scene, witnesses identified the alleged shooter as Lussier, indicating he had become angry at several companions because they would not give Lussier a ride to Duluth. Witnesses said tensions rose throughout the evening, and at some point two people prepared to depart the residence. At that point, witnesses said Lussier became very upset and brandished a silver .22-caliber Taurus handgun. At that point, he pointed the gun at one of the men and reportedly told him he was a Native Mob gang member, also issuing several other threats toward the two.

Eventually the man who was threatened and his companion left the house, got into their vehicle and were pursued by Lussier. Reports said Lussier stood outside the vehicle and pointed the gun toward the man he had threatened, who was in the back seat, and then banged it on the glass of the car window hard enough to leave chips in the glass. When the group began to exit the driveway in the car, witnesses said Lussier pointed his firearm toward the car and discharged it one time. No one was injured.

The complaint states witnesses reported that even after the incident Lussier used his and others’ cell phones to continue to call one of the men throughout the evening and early morning hours, telling him that he had a gun and was going to come and kill him.

Police activated the Consolidated Emergency Response Team (CERT) and members of that team located Lussier and took him into custody, along with Danielle Lee Webster, 20, at the same address. Both were booked into the Carlton County Jail. Webster also appeared in court on Wednesday, charged with a probation violation. Pertler indicated that further charges against Webster are under consideration.

Tags: carlton county, fond du lac, crime, updates