On or about February 23, 2026, Minneapolis police responded to an apartment complex on the 600 block of 8th Street in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota on a damage to property report. Officers arrived on scene and spoke with the reporting party, I. A. I. A. Told officers that he had been at work and received a phone call from his wife, K. F. (“Witness” herein). I. A. Told officers that Witness told him a bullet came through their bedroom wall. I. A. Told officers the bullet was still lodged in the wall.
Officers went up to I. A.’s unit where he lives with Witness and their two children. Officers observed a bullet hole through three walls inside the unit before the bullet stopped inside the fourth wall. It appeared that the bullet had first come through the east wall. Officers spoke to Witness. Witness told officers that she and her son had been laying on the bed inside the bedroom when she felt some debris on her face. Witness looked around for where the debris came from and saw the bullet hole in the wall.
Witness said this happened around 11:30 A.M. Officers knocked on the apartment unit to the east of I. A.’s and Witness’s unit. The resident of that unit was identified as SAMUEL PAUL POCKER (“Defendant” herein). Defendant told officers that he lived alone in his apartment, and he had been gun smithing his rifle prior to officers’ arrival. Defendant was changing the upper receiver of his rifle and laid the rifle on his bed, on top of his pillow. Defendant placed the rifle on his bed with the barrel tilted upwards to the west wall of his bedroom.
Defendant told officers that the rifle discharged on its own. Officers saw a bullet hole in Defendant’s west bedroom wall. Officers collected Defendant’s rifle and identified it as a black and gray Palmetto state armory.300 “black out.” Officers conducted routine checks on Defendant. Officers learned that Defendant is not prohibited from possessing firearms, but he did not have a permit to carry firearms at the time of the incident.
