Man Accused of Targeting U of M Students Faces Felony Charges

(KNSI) — The man accused of threatening to shoot students at the University of Minnesota campuses in the Twin Cities has been officially charged.

Court documents filed in Chippewa County say on January 10th and 11th, they were alerted to 41-year-old Mark Rongstad’s small business Facebook page after he made numerous threats and said he was heading “to the U of M Minneapolis, MN, to start killing kids this AM.” A SafeU Alert was sent out, and employees were told to work from home. Law enforcement descended on the campus to search for Rongstad.

The new semester started on January 16th, so some students were on campus, but it was not full.

Nearby schools also went into lockdown as a precaution.

Authorities went to Rongstad’s home, where he held them at bay for several hours while posting on his Facebook page that had a bomb in his house, and said the bomb squad should be called and that there would be another Waco, Texas, on their hands. He was referring to the deadly Branch Davidian Compound standoff that ended in a firey siege after more than 50 days. The post encouraged people to “Come to Watson and see the show.”

Other threats allegedly included the sheriff’s department and county judges, and “lots of people are going to die.”

Rongstad was arrested just after 4:00 on January 11th.

Police went into his home, where they say they discovered pills, shotgun ammunition, and threatening letters he had written.

In an interview with investigators, they say Rongstad wanted to get the attention of the Secret Service and that he never planned on leaving his house or killing anyone.

Charges against Rongstad include illegal possession of ammunition and threats of violence.

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