DULUTH, Minn. — A Duluth man faces 21 charges after an hours-long standoff with law enforcement Friday.
Seven of 30-year-old Cody Lee Walker-Nelson's charges are for being a felon in possession of a firearm or ammunition. The other charges include theft, burglary, robbery, hit and run, assault, reckless discharge of a firearm and fleeing an officer.
According to the criminal complaint, Walker-Nelson slashed the window screen of a Superior, Wisc. home and stole 12 firearms Friday morning. He then drove to Duluth at about 11:30 a.m. and stole a Chevy Tahoe, which he drove through the front gate of a Duluth property and through the doors of its garage and pole barn.
Prosecutors say the man then broke into the property's unoccupied house, injuring himself while breaking a window. Soon after, he allegedly got into another vehicle in an auto shop parking lot. The owner came out of the shop and asked what he was doing, to which Walker-Nelson allegedly said, "I'm taking this."
"The Defendant had a large sword with him at the time," the complaint states.
However, the complaint says Walker-Nelson left the vehicle and got back into the stolen Tahoe, was chased by the owner's son and waved "what looked to be an airsoft pistol or BB gun" out the window.
Prosecutors say an officer tried to stop the Tahoe. Walker-Nelson then allegedly tried to swerve around a van, damaging the van's rear before speeding away. According to the complaint, the van was occupied by a driver and two vulnerable adults.
Prosecutors say Walker-Nelson then stole a Ford Escape that was left unoccupied outside a Holiday gas station. At 1:40 p.m., he drove the wrong way on the Bong Bridge back to Superior.
According to the complaint, he "attempted to rob a bank" before heading back to Duluth, where he stole $80 from two people sitting in a vehicle and shot a round into the sky. Prosecutors said he then left two guns linked to the Superior burglary earlier that morning with the two individuals he had just encountered
The complaint states that Walker-Nelson continued on in the stolen escape to another gas station. While there, he allegedly reached into an off-duty officer's Chevy Silverado while the officer was in the store. When the officer came out, Walker-Nelson allegedly got back into the Escape and said he thought it was his friend's truck. The officer saw a gun in his lap before he drove off.
Hermantown police located Walker-Nelson and initiated a more than eight-mile chase, reaching speeds up to 100 mph. Prosecutors say Walker-Nelson hit another car before the pursuit was ended for traffic and safety concerns.
Police say at 2:37 p.m., Walker-Nelson barricaded himself in an apartment at 601 North Central Ave., taking several guns with him. Police say an hours-long standoff began, in which Walker-Nelson fired at a police drone and at one point shot through a wall into an adjoining apartment. He also tossed a handgun and two rifles out the window, all of which investigators linked to the Superior burglary.
Police say they arrested Walker-Nelson at about 8:30 p.m. According to the complaint, they found "hundreds of rounds of ammunition, two swords, a Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun, and an Anderson AR-15." These guns were also linked to the Superior burglary.
Prosecutors say Walker-Nelson can't legally possess firearms due to a felony assault conviction.
