The 60-year-old man involved in a Golden Valley shootout returned fire and then drove to Beulah despite having gunshot wounds, law enforcement said Tuesday.
Jeffrey Gegelman was at his home in Golden Valley on Sunday when three young men “began to beat on the door, and entered his residence and started shooting,” Mercer County Sheriff’s Department Det. James Wenning said in the affidavit released Wednesday.
Brett Knudson, 20, of Golden Valley, was charged with attempted murder and criminal trespassing on Tuesday. Both are felonies.
Gegelman drove to Beulah after the incident, where he was stopped by a Beulah Police officer at approximately 4:15 p.m. on Highway 49, according to the document.
Gegelman was honking and almost rear-ended the patrol car. When the police officer approached his vehicle, he yelled at her, “They shot me. Those kids shot me twice.”
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Gegelman said he started shooting back and thought he shot the alleged shooter, according to the document. Gegelman got the license plate off of a small gray car and wrote it on a newspaper, which was later found by law enforcement at his home. Officers also located two bullet holes and three bullet fragments on the floor of the bathroom.
Gegelman was transported to Sakakawea Medical Center in Hazen.
A deputy was advised by Wenning to drive west on Highway 200 toward Golden Valley, where they pulled over Knudson in the gray vehicle, according to the affidavit. Knudson told the deputy he had been shot. No one else was in the car. Officers found a knife in the vehicle.
Knudson was also transported to Sakakawea Medical Center.
Officers got a search warrant for Knudson’s home, where they found .38 bullet casings and cartridges in the vehicle. They also found a .38-caliber Special revolver, five matching bullets and a Ruger Mark 2 rifle with a live round in the chamber.
Knudson was also charged with driving while his license was suspended and illegal possession of drug paraphernalia - that charged stemmed from smoking devices with marijuana residue found in his home. He is being held at the Mercer County Jail on a $500,000 cash bond. A preliminary hearing was not set as of Wednesday.
Knudson plead guilty to a simple assault charge in May 2013.
Gegelman was convicted of a disorderly conduct charge in 1999 in Mercer County.
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The Mercer County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately return call to The Press on Wednesday. Gegelman also did not return multiple messages.
