Since the assassinations of Melissa Hortman and her husband and the shooting of John Hoffman and his wife, Minnesota officeholders have been living in what they call a heightened threat environment. And then along comes Dominic — Dominic Darrell Peace, that is — to the State Capitol in St. Paul.
As the title of the parodic novel had it back in the day, naked came the stranger, three times. Or naked came the nonviolent stranger. This is the email the Minnesota Department of Public Safety sent out at 9:30 p.m. last night:
Just before 7:30 p.m. Saturday, State Patrol troopers arrested the man who had twice in the last 24 hours been removed and transported from Minnesota State Capitol grounds.
Dominic Terrell Peace, 36, was taken into custody without incident after he showed up on the Capitol grounds a third time. He is being held in the Ramsey County jail awaiting extradition in connection with an arrest warrant from Wisconsin. State Patrol officials worked throughout the day with Wisconsin officials on the extradition issue.
The State Patrol continues to investigate how Peace came to be in the Capitol after public hours Friday evening. The State Patrol will be conducting a comprehensive review to determine how this happened and make any necessary updates to Capitol security protocols.
An alarm system alerted Capitol Security around 11:30 p.m. Friday that a man was in the Capitol after hours.
When Capitol Security reached the man, later identified as Peace, he was naked and nonviolent, and it was quickly determined that he needed a mental health evaluation.
He was taken to Regions Hospital for that evaluation. It is believed that Regions Hospital released the man.
Around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, the man was again seen on Capitol grounds — not inside the Capitol building.
The man was nonviolent and again taken to Regions Hospital for mental health evaluation. It is believed that Regions Hospital released the man a second time.
There are no indications at this time that the man broke into the Capitol. The State Patrol is in the process of reviewing any video to determine his exact whereabouts while he was inside the building.
“The safety and well-being of everyone who works at and visits the Capitol is our top priority,” said Col. Christina Bogojevic, chief of the State Patrol. “We take this situation seriously and are committed to understanding how it occurred as well as exploring any potential security enhancements at the Capitol.”
What’s wrong with this picture? You have got to be kidding me.
House Speaker Lisa Demuth sent out two statements yesterday. She sent out this one in the heat of the moment, at 2:25 p.m., while Peace was at large, so to speak, and after legislators were informed of the security breach that had occurred overnight: “It’s frustrating that an individual with a criminal history was able to allegedly vandalize the Capitol and unlawfully trespass in the Senate chamber without being taken into custody. Anyone who trespasses in any building — let alone the State Capitol — should be arrested and prosecuted for breaking the law, and I look forward to learning why this did not take place in this highly disturbing incident.”
After Peace had been taken into custody, Demuth sent out this one at 8:00 pm. yesterday evening. It seems a tad understated: “While I’m grateful the offender is in custody, it should not take three incidents in 24 hours to finally be booked. In this environment of heightened security, we need to be even more vigilant, not less.”
