{"id":29539,"date":"2026-05-23T18:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T23:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=29539"},"modified":"2026-05-23T18:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T23:05:08","slug":"orr-man-charged-after-fire-plane-hit-by-bullet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/orr-man-charged-after-fire-plane-hit-by-bullet\/","title":{"rendered":"Orr Man Charged After Fire Plane Hit By Bullet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orr, Minnesota<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A northern St. Louis County man is facing felony charges after a firefighting plane was struck by a bullet near Kjostad Lake.<\/p>\n

Daniel Christian Pettit, 48, of Portage Township, was charged on Wednesday, May 20. He faces second-degree assault and intentional discharge of a firearm.<\/p>\n

The charges stem from a May 15 incident near the Buyck area. Two aircraft were helping fight a wildfire at the time.<\/p>\n

According to the criminal complaint, the pilot heard a \u201cpop\u201d sound shortly before 8 p.m. The aircraft was scooping water from Kjostad Lake.<\/p>\n

The pilot first thought the sound may have been a bird strike. Damage was later found after the plane landed at the Hibbing airport.<\/p>\n

Aircraft Damaged During Wildfire Response<\/h2>\n

The complaint says the Air Tractor had damage to its rudder and rear wing trim tab.<\/p>\n

An investigator later found a round hole in the rudder. The damage appeared to show a projectile had entered from below.<\/p>\n

Authorities said the damage did not appear to come from a bird or a natural object.<\/p>\n

The two planes had taken off shortly before 5 p.m. They were hired to help with wildland fire suppression.<\/p>\n

The aircraft made 37 passes over Kjostad Lake to scoop water. The pilot reported the damage happened on the 35th pass.<\/p>\n

\"Mugshot<\/p>\n

Daniel Christian Pettit<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Suspect Reportedly Claimed He Was Crow Hunting<\/h2>\n

Investigators said Pettit later told them he had been crow hunting.<\/p>\n

He reportedly said he was using a 12-gauge shotgun and buckshot between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

Pettit allegedly said he believed shooting upward was safe. He also claimed he did not aim at the aircraft.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, Pettit said it was possible he caused the damage while hunting.<\/p>\n

He also reportedly said he had video of a plane flying over his home. He claimed the aircraft came within 40 feet of his roof.<\/p>\n

Federal rules address minimum safe altitudes for aircraft. More information is available through 14 CFR \u00a7 91.119<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Neighbors Reported Hearing Gunfire<\/h2>\n

Several nearby residents reported hearing gunshots while the planes were flying.<\/p>\n

One couple said the shots occurred between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. They said the shooting seemed to happen when planes were over the lake.<\/p>\n

Another resident reported hearing loud bangs as the aircraft passed nearby.<\/p>\n

Authorities later went to Pettit\u2019s home on Orr Buyck Road. The home is about 11 miles east of Orr.<\/p>\n

He was taken into custody and interviewed at the Hibbing jail.<\/p>\n

Bail Set In St. Louis County Case<\/h2>\n

Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Chris Florey asked for $200,000 unconditional bail.<\/p>\n

Florey said the alleged conduct raised serious public safety concerns. He also cited risks if firefighters continued battling wildfires.<\/p>\n

Public defender Levi Hinton asked for lower bail and intensive pretrial release.<\/p>\n

Judge Robert Friday set unconditional bail at $150,000. Pettit may be released with supervision after posting $75,000.<\/p>\n

That release would include electronic monitoring and other court conditions.<\/p>\n

Court records may be searched through Minnesota Court Records Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Information about the St. Louis County Sheriff\u2019s Office is available on the county\u2019s official website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pettit is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Orr, Minnesota (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A northern St. Louis County man is facing felony charges after a firefighting plane was struck by a bullet near Kjostad Lake. Daniel Christian Pettit, 48, of Portage Township, was charged on Wednesday, May 20. He faces second-degree assault and intentional discharge of a firearm. The charges stem from a May… Continue reading Orr Man Charged After Fire Plane Hit By Bullet<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[1065,346,17853,770,1474,772,4044,17851,896,17850,1860,2619,912,17578,151,955,17854,17575,5306,17580,1208,17849,17577,17852],"class_list":["post-29539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-accused","tag-after","tag-bullet","tag-charged","tag-claims","tag-crime","tag-crow","tag-daniel-christian-pettit","tag-fire","tag-firefighting-plane-shot","tag-hit","tag-hunting","tag-inforum","tag-kjostad-lake","tag-man","tag-minnesota-crime-news","tag-orr","tag-orr-minnesota","tag-plane","tag-portage-township","tag-shooting","tag-st-louis-county-wildfire","tag-wildfire","tag-wildfire-aircraft-damage","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}