Man with white supremacist ties arrested, charged

Ramsey County authorities today charged a man who was ties to a white supremacist gang with illegal possession of firearms and methamphetamines.

Samuel David Shoen, 35, who authorities say is a member of a white supremacist gang called the Hammerskins, is facing three counts of illegal possession of firearms, wearing a bulletproof vest while committing a crime and possession of methamphetamines.

All the materials that he's charged for were received by an informant, found in Shoen's car or in the car that he was riding in when he was arrested in Woodbury on Tuesday. Shoen's current address is unknown.

At one point before his arrest, Shoen said he was 'not going down without a fight.'

According to the criminal complaint, Shoen came to the notice of law enforcement in November after an informant reported that he was trying to sell dozens of grenades for $375 each. The informant said he also routinely wore a fully automatic firearm around his neck. The informant tried to buy the grenades, but Shoen said they'd already been traded for marijuana.

The informant then negotiated the sale of the Mac 10 Shoen wore around his neck. In a parking lot of a St. Paul pizza shop last week, the informant bought the loaded Mac 10 for $3,500.

On Sunday, another informant travelled with Shoen to his alleged marijuana grow house in northern Minnesota. On the way there, Shoen put a gun to the informant's head, accusing the informant of being a snitch. Although the informant calmed him, Shoen later became paranoid, armed himself with an AR-15 and put on body armor.

The informant convinced Shoen to stop at a hotel in McGregor, Minn. When Shoen was in the shower, the informant took his car keys, drove back to the Twin Cities, and turned Shoen's car over to law enforcement.

On Tuesday, police received a tip that Shoen was coming back to the Twin Cities and set up a stakeout outside a Vadnais Heights Walmart. A squad car followed a Saturn carrying Shoen out of the parking lot. When officers turned on their lights, something was thrown out of the window and the Saturn sped up. The Saturn was eventually forced off the highway by a Minnesota State Patrol squad car in Woodbury.

A passenger in the car who had arranged Shoen's ride back to the Twin Cities told police that Shoen was trying to piece body armor together during the car ride.

"Shoen said something was going to happen, that it was his 'last day,' and that he 'was not going down without a fight,'" according to the criminal complaint. "On their return trip to the Cities, Shoen said that should the police pull them over that they should just drop him off and he would shoot it out."

Shoen was previously convicted of making terroristic threats in Dakota County in 1998 and felony possession of a firearm in Dakota County in 2002.

Shoen is scheduled to appear next before the court on January 16. His bail is set at $1 million.