Crime & Safety
Burnsville Man Charged with Kidnapping and Assault in Hostage Incident
The case appears to be an incidence of domestic-related violence, said the Dakota County Attorney.
The Dakota County Attorney's Office has filed charges in the Burnsville hostage incident that led to a standoff at the Holiday gas station last weekend.
Ariel Luis Barnett, 31, has been charged with two counts of assault in the second degree and two counts of kidnapping in relation to the incident. Police say Barnett held two employees hostage at gun point at the Holiday gas station on Nicollet Avenue near Highway 13. One customer ran out of the building when Barnett entered with the gun.
According to the criminal complaint as noted in the Dakota County Attorney's news release:
On Saturday afternoon September 7, 2013, Barnett entered the Holiday gas station at Nicollet Avenue and Highway 13 in Burnsville armed with a sawed off shotgun. He fired the gun into the ceiling of the store and one customer, who was inside at the time, ran out of the building.
Barnett ordered his former girlfriend, who was an employee of the store, and another male employee to call police because he was taking them hostage. Barnett told both of them that their lives were in danger.
At 6:15 p.m. that evening, Burnsville police were dispatched to the scene and surrounded the gas station. Officers were able to make contact with Barnett by phone and talked him into first releasing the male employee and eventually to surrender.
Barnett had been in a seven year relationship with the female victim and they recently separated after he was incarcerated in Rice County for 53 days on an unrelated matter.
“This appears to be another incident of domestic-related violence which escalated into an extremely dangerous hostage situation," Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said in the release. "Thankfully no one was seriously injured, but the trauma to the victims held at gunpoint was significant.”
Barnett is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 8 at 9 a.m. in Hastings. Bail is set at $250,000 without conditions and $150,000 with conditions.
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