Man Charged with Felony After Accidentally Shooting Himself
INVER GROVE HEIGHTS, MINNESOTA - A man arrived at Regions Hospital late on Friday, October 6, 2023, with a gunshot wound to the hand. The individual reported to hospital staff that he had been shot in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, which prompted staff to call Inver Grove Heights Police about the incident.
Inver Grove Heights Officers interviewed the man, who reported to police he was shot by "a stranger" on 50th Street in the city of Inver Grove Heights. During his interview, the man could only provide police with a vague description of the shooter and the incident that led up to the shooting. When Police asked for more information about the incident, the man became further aggravated and said that he drove himself to the hospital after the shooting because he could not find anyone else to drive him. According to the criminal complaint, Officers thought his explanation of the incident was suspicious. While Officers were interviewing the man at the hospital, additional Officers searched the scene where the man said the shooting occurred, but Officers were unable to find any evidence that a shooting had occurred there.
Officers then responded to the man's apartment, where the criminal complaint states Officers could hear a very loud television inside the apartment and also found dried blood on the exterior door handle. This led to the Police getting a search warrant for his apartment, where police found dried blood on the inside of the door handle and blood spattered on the wall. Upon further investigation, police found a bullet hole in the wall connected to the bathroom, a hole in a towel hanging on the wall in the bathroom, an indent in the shower wall, and a spent 9 mm bullet near the shower drain. When Officers searched the bedroom, they additionally found tools to repair a firearm, a safe with two boxes of 9 mm ammunition, a Glock magazine loaded with 9 mm ammunition, and various other items for a 9 mm pistol. Officers were not able to find a firearm during their search, though.
The next day, Saturday, October 7, 2023, after the man was released from the hospital, Investigators with the Inver Grove Heights Police Department asked the man to come in for further questioning. Once the man arrived, he was arrested and given his Miranda warning. He agreed to speak with Investigators, and when he was told there were discrepancies in his story, he began to tell Investigators that he was shot inside his apartment. When Investigators told him about the additional evidence they had, he admitted that the gun accidentally went off while working on it in his bedroom. He stated he lied because he was scared.
Since the man was previously convicted of having a controlled substance in the fifth degree in June 2017, he was not eligible to have possession of a firearm. The man was identified as Joseph Greiner, who was charged with Felony Possession of a Firearm by an Ineligible Person (Prior Crime of Violence), which comes with a maximum sentence of 5-15 years and/or a fine of $9,000 to $30,000.
Cover photo by: Matthew Ansley on Unsplash
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