WARSAW TOWNSHIP, Minn. 鈥� A heated argument over a skid loader that got stuck in mud turned deadly Thursday, Aug. 27, when a rural Cannon Falls, Minn., man returned to the scene with a gun and killed his father, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday, Aug. 28, in Goodhue County District Court.
Cole Sidney DeGroot, 21, appeared in court on four felonies including one count of second-degree murder with intent/not premeditated. He is accused of shooting to death Terry John DeGroot, 55, also of rural Cannon Falls.
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According to the criminal complaint, DeGroot alerted Goodhue County Sheriff鈥檚 Dispatch himself at 5:01 p.m. Thursday, telling them to send an ambulance in five minutes because he was going to do 鈥渟omething stupid鈥� and shoot his father, because he was 鈥渘ot going to put up with him鈥� anymore, and hung up.
Dispatch later reached him and the defendant said he had already shot his dad.
The father and son had been clearing a debris-filled creek on someone else鈥檚 property when Cole DeGroot said he got the skid loader stuck. After his father berated him, DeGroot left on his bicycle, went to his father鈥檚 property approximately 3 miles away, got a .45 handgun basement and returned to the worksite.
DeGroot told investigators he raised the handgun and pointed at his father who was seated in the skid loader that was no longer running. He said he only meant to scare his dad, but the handgun has a hair trigger and discharged. He stated that after the gun went off his father stated, 鈥淚鈥檓 dead.鈥�
The shot entered the senior DeGroot鈥檚 abdomen and apparently stuck an artery, records show.
