Charges: Hastings man put gun to woman’s head and pulled the trigger, but no bullet fired

Charges say a Hastings man threatened to kill a woman after an alcohol-fueled argument and put a gun to her head and squeezed the trigger she heard a click but no bullet fired The woman called around noon Tuesday and communicated she had barricaded herself in a second-floor bedroom of a Ravenna Township home to get away from Martin Frederick Branshaw who was pounding on the door trying to get inside When Dakota County sheriff s deputies arrived they used a ladder to rescue her through a window Branshaw was still inside the home and yelled that he had a gun and that he would shoot according to Thursday s criminal complaint South Metro SWAT was called and eventually breached the house and exposed him in a second-floor bedroom with an apparent self-inflicted injury to his neck Branshaw was transported to an area hospital for restoration where he remains in custody and facing second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon charges I shouldn t be alive The woman reported an investigator the two had been drinking alcohol the night before and gotten into an argument She went upstairs to go to bed but Branshaw repeatedly screamed at her from the first floor She eventually fell asleep but was awakened when Branshaw entered the room He unlocked a gun safe next to the bed grabbed her by the hair and put the barrel of a black pistol to her temple He pulled the trigger and the she heard a click but it did not fire the complaint says She described the investigator I shouldn t be alive if he had one in the gun I d be dead During the research a -caliber pistol was uncovered under a couch cushion It was loaded with a magazine that contained rounds however no bullet was in the chamber Branshaw was unable to appear at a first hearing in Dakota County District Court on Thursday due to his hospitalization it was continued to June Judge Dannia Edwards set his interim bail at million and issued a domestic abuse no-contact order Court records show Branshaw completed one year of supervised probation on May as part of a sentence for a DWI conviction out of Goodhue County Related Articles St Paul faith-based nonprofit leader charged with possessing child pornography Bonded by work and love Israeli Embassy colleagues lives cut short by gunman A Michigan police officer who killed a Black motorist won t face a retrial prosecutor says New Jersey Democratic Rep McIver issued on recognizance on federal assault charges Former Cloquet police officer convicted of stealing K from woman with dementia