On January 17, 2026, at approximately 5:15 P.M., an adult male, J. H., reported to the Carver County Sheriff’s Office that he had been traveling in a vehicle near the intersection of Highway 5 and County Road 11 North, in the City of Victoria, County of Carver. J. H. Was a passenger and an adult female, J. R. Was driving. J. H. Reported that his juvenile son was also in the car. At this time and place, J. H. Reported that a white Ford Explorer, with registration "ZG3 352," drove up behind them and was tailgating aggressively.
Although traveling at highway speed, J. H. Stated they tried to speed up to create more space, but the Ford Explorer nevertheless kept tailgating. J. J. Stated that after speeding up didn't work, he asked R. R. To slow down a little bit to see if the Ford would pass them but that also didn't work. J. H. Stated they decided to turn their flashers on and pull over so the vehicle would go around. J. H. Advised once they had pulled to the side, he got out of the passenger seat and turned back to face the following vehicle, making a motion with both hands/arms to the other driver indicating "go around" or "go by". J. H. Said the other vehicle had completely stopped in the lane of travel holding up traffic.
The Ford had a driver and a passenger. J. H. Said he then observed one of them, he couldn't tell who though, pointed what he thought was a firearm out the front of the windshield towards him. He stated the person was holding the item at a sideways angle. J. H. Said he observed both a red and green light shining through the windshield at him from the area of the object. He stated that he observed a red dot on his chest and could also see a green light coming from the presumed firearm. J. R. Indicated she could only see the red light coming from the gun and not the green light.
J. H. Estimated the encounter lasted around 3 seconds. When asked, J. HJ. Stated he was concerned for their safety and thought to himself, "this isn't going to end well". Other law enforcement officers became engaged in the search for this white Ford Explorer and located it near County Road 10 and Little Avenue in Laketown Township, where a high-risk traffic stop was executed. The three occupants of the Ford were immediately detained: Brandon Schuler, hereafter the Defendant, Mark Naples and Brett Reis.
Law enforcement took a recorded statement from Mr. Naples who stated he was in the rear passenger seat and that the Defendant was “riding this guy’s ass” until that vehicle pulled over. Mr. Naples stated after vehicle in front had pulled over, he advised the Defendant not to do “anything dumb.” Mr. Naples stated that the Defendant “flashed his s***” and they then drove off. Mr. Naples could not describe the handgun in detail but stated it was black, and some type of sight mounted to it. Mr. Naples stated that he observed Brandon pointing the muzzle of the firearm out the front windshield of the vehicle from the driver's seat towards the area Mr. Hancock was standing.
