{"id":5875,"date":"2026-01-03T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=5875"},"modified":"2026-01-02T07:46:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T13:46:01","slug":"grand-forks-man-charged-after-rifle-threat-to-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/grand-forks-man-charged-after-rifle-threat-to-police\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Forks: Man Charged After Rifle Threat to Police"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grand Forks<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Grand Forks man is facing two felony counts of terrorizing after police say he threatened two officers while holding a rifle outside his home.<\/p>\n

John P.Z. Fjestad<\/strong>, of Grand Forks, is charged with two felony counts of terrorizing and one misdemeanor count of DUI, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Cold-Weather Call Turns Tense<\/h2>\n

According to the probable cause summary, officers made contact with Fjestad on December 28 at about 8:47 p.m.<\/p>\n

Police say they found him outside his residence at 622 North Fifth Street in Grand Forks.<\/p>\n

Officers said he appeared highly intoxicated and was stuck in the snow.<\/p>\n

Police said a report claimed he had been stuck at another location earlier.<\/p>\n

That report also said he left without headlights.<\/p>\n

Court documents say he also threatened to shoot someone who tried to help him.<\/p>\n

Concern Raised Over Dog in Extreme Cold<\/h2>\n

Police said Fjestad had two dogs with him in the pickup.<\/p>\n

One dog was inside the truck, and another was outside, near the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Officers said Fjestad went inside his home with one dog.<\/p>\n

They said he left the other dog outside by the truck.<\/p>\n

Police noted the wind chill was about 22 degrees below.<\/p>\n

Officers told him the dog could not stay outside, according to the documents.<\/p>\n

Police said they warned him they may have to break a window to rescue the dog.<\/p>\n

They said the dog would be taken to the Grand Forks Humane Society<\/a> for safety.<\/p>\n

\"John
John P.Z. Fjestad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rifle Displayed, Officers Retreat<\/h2>\n

Court documents say Fjestad became angry and shouted threats.<\/p>\n

Police report he told officers, \u201cI will shatter your effing life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officers returned to the roadway to wait, according to the report.<\/p>\n

While in the street, they say Fjestad appeared at a window holding a rifle.<\/p>\n

Police say he looked out at the officers while holding the weapon.<\/p>\n

Court documents say the officers feared for their lives.<\/p>\n

Police report one officer took cover behind a patrol vehicle.<\/p>\n

Both officers then backed away to a safer distance, the report states.<\/p>\n

Pursuit and Arrest<\/h2>\n

Police said they watched from afar to make sure he did not drive again.<\/p>\n

However, documents say Fjestad got into his pickup and drove off.<\/p>\n

Officers followed due to public safety concerns, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Police say he went off the road again near 7th Avenue North and North Fourth Street.<\/p>\n

They said he became stuck in the snow a second time.<\/p>\n

Officers then took him into custody without further incident.<\/p>\n

Alcohol Items Listed in Vehicle<\/h2>\n

Court documents say officers found multiple alcohol items in the pickup.<\/p>\n

The report lists empty and unopened \u201cshooters\u201d bottles and beer.<\/p>\n

North Dakota DUI law information is posted here:\u00a0N.D.C.C. Title 39, Chapter 08<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As with any criminal case, the charges are allegations. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

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

Grand Forks (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A Grand Forks man is facing two felony counts of terrorizing after police say he threatened two officers while holding a rifle outside his home. John P.Z. Fjestad, of Grand Forks, is charged with two felony counts of terrorizing and one misdemeanor count of DUI, according to court documents. Cold-Weather Call… Continue reading Grand Forks: Man Charged After Rifle Threat to Police<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6276,"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":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_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":[346,770,772,820,457,6934,6937,6932,6933,151,6936,6085,1662,6468,6931,6935,1108,6938],"class_list":["post-5875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-after","tag-charged","tag-crime","tag-forks","tag-grand","tag-grand-forks-dui-arrest","tag-grand-forks-police-incident","tag-grand-forks-terrorizing-charges","tag-john-p-z-fjestad","tag-man","tag-north-dakota-terrorizing-felony","tag-officers","tag-police","tag-rifle","tag-rifle-threat-against-grand-forks-police-officers","tag-rifle-threat-to-police","tag-threat","tag-winter-stranded-pickup","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5875","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=5875"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6277,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5875\/revisions\/6277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}