Owatonna man charged with selling illegal guns, threatening to kill police

An Owatonna man is facing federal firearms charges after offering to sell an undercover federal agent a sawed-off shotgun.

The criminal complaint against 22-year-old Dayton Sauke says he had been offering to sell illegal firearms via Snapchat for months, and came to the attention of the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators made contact with him online, and discovered he was also threatening to kill law enforcement officers at the state Capitol last week, ahead of recent planned rallies in St. Paul.

“Extremist violence at the MN capitol this weekend? Even if I only kill 1 cop, thats more cops than antifa cop lovers have ever killed,’ he allegedly posted on Snapchat, in a screen capture image included in the court documents.

On Friday, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arranged to make an undercover buy of a sawed off shotgun outside a business in Faribault. Sauke was arrested and a gun seized from his vehicle, according to the complaint. Court documents say he boasted of selling more than 100 other guns last year.

The charges say that on his social media feed Sauke said he intended to kill a police officer and elected officials, and urged others to join him. The charges also say he has two previous firearm violations, and was on probation when he was arrested last week. He was due to make an appearance on one count of possession of an unregistered short-barreled shotgun in federal court Tuesday.