Man enters plea to assault charge for hitting a man with a crowbar

WILLMAR -- Jimmy Alexander Gogoi, 19, of Willmar, pleaded guilty Monday to a second-degree assault charge for hitting a man in the head with a crowbar in January.

As part of a plea ag-reement re-ached in Kandiyohi County District Court, another ch-arge of third-degree assault will be dismissed and he will receive a stay of execution on his sentence and pay restitution. Gogoi will be sentenced Jan. 4.

According to the complaint, Willmar police were called Jan. 29 to an apartment complex near Ridgewater College along the 1300 block of 24th Street Northwest on a report that a shot had been fired.

A citizen reported that a shot was fired by a man and a large group of people was gathered in the courtyard.

Officers approached the man who had fired the shot and found that he had blood on his face and large gashes on his forehead and the back of his head.

The man was taken to Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar for treatment, which included sutures to close the wounds.

The man was interviewed at the hospital and said he had been at a party, had left and later found a large group of people gathered nearby. He said he loaded his shotgun and left it in the apartment, went out to talk to the group and was struck in the head. He returned to get the gun and fired it in the air to scare off the attackers.

A police investigation led officers to another man, who said the injured man had been involved in an altercation at the party and the group had gathered to confront him. He said Gogoi was the only person to strike the man with the crowbar and did so four to five times.

The injured man later identified Gogoi from a photo lineup.