Arrests made after shots fired at house

At least two men were jailed this past week after a house in Cloquet was struck with five to seven bullets from a handgun on Feb 24. The house on Bagaan Street, near the Fond du Lac Supportive Housing complex, was occupied at the time. There were no injuries in what police determined was suspected retaliation after an earlier physical altercation.

Four males were involved in the shooting, police later discovered, including a juvenile, who suspects have said was the shooter.

Raymond Peterson, 19, was arrested over the weekend and had a first Carlton County District Court appearance Monday. He faces a felony charge of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. The charge is amplified because it involves a firearm. The court also cited liability for the crimes of the shooter.

"It's only by luck that no one was struck," said Jeff Boucher, an attorney for the Carlton County Attorney's Office.

Peterson is named in the complaint, but the other three suspects are identified only by the initials K.P. and M.B. plus an unnamed juvenile. After speaking with Peterson, police said they spoke with "K.P." and then recovered the alleged firearm from his residence.

The Carlton County Jail roster on Tuesday listed a fourth man, Mukwa Belanger, 18, in on charges similar to those Peterson faces.

Peterson was released from jail after Monday's appearance in Carlton.

Judge Rebekka Stumme set Peterson's bail at $75,000 bond, or $7,500 cash. The judge ordered an "intensive" release, meaning Peterson will be closely watched by a probation officer. His next appearance in court is scheduled for April 29.

The incident brought a heavy presence of police to the west side of Cloquet that Saturday night. The Fond du Lac Tribal police were assisted by the Cloquet Police Department, Carlton County Sheriff's Office and Minnesota State Patrol.

According to the court statement of probable cause in Peterson's case, police observed the home on Bagaan Street with "multiple bullet holes in the side of the residence and a broken window."

After police established that no one inside the home was injured, a neighbor reported that they saw a male wearing black pointing a gun at the home and firing.

The people in the home said they suspected Peterson, who lives in the neighborhood, was involved. They said he had been involved in a physical altercation with a male juvenile who lived in the home that was shot at.

Police found Peterson at his house, where they say Peterson allegedly admitted to being at the scene of the shooting, handling the gun and taking photos with it, but that it belonged to "K.P." and that the juvenile in their group had shot the gun.

Further interviews with the four revealed that there was a discussion about a "problem" with the juvenile on Bagaan Street and the idea came up to shoot at the home. According to the criminal complaint, the four "put on masks and gloves" and "walked together" to the home, and then the juvenile fired. "The four then ran back" toward Boozoo Drive.

Camera surveillance at the housing complex and a home nearby showed the movements of the four males, police said, including the actual shooting.

The Carlton County Attorney's Office did not respond to questions about the status of the juvenile and "K.P." before presstime.

At the court appearance on Monday, an attorney for the county said Peterson has no prior criminal history. The felony assault charge has a maximum sentence of seven years.

In 2021, Peterson's twin brother, Joseph, was killed inside a truck as a gun was being handled by a group of teenage boys and it accidentally went off.