St. Louis Park Man Charged with Threatening Juveniles with AK-47

A St. Louis Park man has been charged with pulling an AK-47 assault weapon on a group of young men after accusing them of stealing his child’s Halloween candy.

Orrin John Hager, 44, is charged with second-degree assault with a firearm, a felony with a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of three years in prison and a $4,200 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, signed by St. Louis Park Police Officer Aaron Balvin, officers were called to the area of 27th Street and Brunswick Avenue just after 9 p.m. on Oct. 31 when someone reported hearing shots fired.

Police found a group of juvenile boys, who said a man had driven up, pulled over and began to yell at them, accusing them of stealing candy from his child. When the man pulled out a “long gun,” the boys ran away.

The boys described the suspect as a white male with an Asian female passenger in his car, the same description of a driver who was stopped earlier in the evening for driving erratically. During that traffic stop, the driver, identified as Hager, told officers that he was looking for “older kids” who had stolen candy from his child.

Police went to Hager’s home and found him “very eager” to talk to them. He told them that he was angry that someone had stolen candy from his child, so he got into his car – accompanied by his wife and two children – and went searching for the “kids” who were responsible for the theft, according to the complaint.

When he saw the group at 27th and Brunswick, he got out of his car to confront them, he told police. However, it appeared that none of them were taking him seriously and they were giving him “attitude,” he said, so he pulled a gun from his car, the complaint says.

Hager said he held the gun near his side, but never pointed or fired it. He said he got back into his car and followed one of the boys whom he thought had stolen the candy, then stopped the car, put the gun in his trunk and went home, according to the complaint.

Police arrested Hager and confiscated the unloaded AK-47. They later determined that the report of shots fired in the area was unrelated to the case.

Hager has been released from custody on a $100,000 bond. No more court appearances have been scheduled in his case.