FARGO — New charges were filed Friday, Oct. 30, against a Fargo man who court records show has been arrested four times this month for various crimes including terrorizing, carrying a gun without a permit, refusal to halt and drunken driving.
Shannon Grindberg's most recent run-in with the law was
Wednesday night on the north end of Island Park, where Fargo officers conducted a traffic stop on his car after responding to a "knife-involved disturbance" at the Dike West Skate Park.
Several witnesses told officers they saw Grindberg drive into the north parking lot of Prairie St. John's hospital, where he began driving recklessly and doing "donuts" while "yelling out of his vehicle's window asking if people wanted bacon," and making statements about hating the Fargo Police Department, according to the incident report.
Witnesses told officers Grindberg, 54, then got out of his vehicle and "began throwing packages of bacon while stating if they hate police, they can have bacon," court documents said.
Grindberg noticed a man at the skate park was recording him on his phone and "got into (the victim's) face," court documents said. Grindberg then walked back to his car, displaying "odd and rapidly changing" behavior, witnesses said.
At that point Grindberg got a "large folding knife ... having two blades, one on each side, and around the size of a sword," out of his car, and "what appeared to be a handgun case and began waving it around ... (making) statements about the Navy SEALs and a 9mm handgun," witnesses told officers.
Grindberg also threatened to kill the man who had filmed him and cut the man's hair off, according to witnesses, who said they heard him say something about "cutting flesh" off the man's body.
When he approached the man who had filmed him again, "due to the previous threats and multiple produced weapons, (the victim) ... pushed Grindberg to the ground in order to defend himself. (The victim) noted he was scared Grindberg may kill him at the time," court documents said.
After a short physical altercation with the man, Grindberg got into his car and left the area, and officers arrested him a short time later, court documents said.
Grindberg told police "he was driving around while attempting to pawn the items in his vehicle," when he "observed a good deal for bacon at Family Fare and decided to try and give it away to people ... informing people (at the skate park) he would give them bacon if they stated they hate 'pigs,'" the police incident report said.
Grindberg said the disagreement began after he decided "someone didn't deserve the bacon he gave them, so he went to take it back," according to court documents.
Three guns, two marijuana pipes, three knives, and a large amount of gold jewelry were located inside Grindberg's vehicle during an impound search following his arrest, court documents said.
The arrest was Grindberg's fourth this month, the first coming on Oct. 11 in Moorhead. Fargo officers received a report of a reckless driver traveling eastbound on Main Avenue from Broadway Square at approximately 60 miles per hour just after 4 p.m. that day.
The vehicle was reported to have driven over the bridge into Moorhead and was seen parked at the food pantry at 1308 Main Ave., when a Moorhead officer made contact with the driver, identified as Grindberg.
Grindberg told the officer "I don't answer questions," and slowly tried to drive away from the traffic stop.
"During this interaction, the officer observed the driver to have slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and the officer could smell an odor of alcohol," court documents said.
Additional officers arrived and blocked Grindberg's vehicle and commanded him to exit the vehicle but Grindberg refused. Officers eventually deployed a Taser to get Grindberg out of the vehicle and detain him.
Grindberg was found with a handgun in his jeans pocket and refused to take a breath test to determine his blood alcohol level.
"When the officer read the line regarding refusal to take the test, Defendant gave the officer the middle finger. Defendant was asked four times if he understood the advisory and Defendant refused to answer and looked away. ... Defendant was again informed that refusing to take a test was a crime and Defendant began yelling 'lalalalala' over the officer," court documents said.
He was charged with five misdemeanor counts for the Moorhead stop, including possessing a gun without a permit in a public place, carrying a gun while under the influence of alcohol, DWI and obstruction.
Grindberg was also charged with refusal to halt, disorderly conduct and preventing arrest for an Oct. 17 incident in Cass County, as well felony terrorizing and violating a no-contact order during an incident involving
his neighbors on Oct. 21, near the Gladys Ray Shelter on the 1500 block of 15th Avenue South.