Police officer gravely injured

WASECA (AP) — A police officer in southern Minnesota was gravely injured when he was shot in the head while responding to a report of a suspicious person, officials said Tuesday.

Officer Arik Matson, 32, was shot about 8 p.m. Monday in Waseca, and was taken by air to a hospital in Robbinsdale, where he was in critical but stable condition Tuesday, according to Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans.

The suspect, 37-year-old Tyler Robert Janovsky, was shot twice by other officers at the scene and was flown to the same hospital. Evans said Janovsky’s injuries were not life-threatening. He has not been charged.

Matson and three other officers were responding to a call of a suspicious person with a flashlight in a residential backyard, Evans said. Officers saw Janovsky on a neighboring property, and “at one point during the encounter with him, Officer Matson was shot. Officers then shot Mr. Janovsky,” he said.

Evans said authorities are still piecing together why Janovsky was in the backyard. He did not live at the house. Janovsky has an active warrant for drug-related charges, but the officers didn’t know who they were dealing with when they were first called to the scene.

Matson has been with the Waseca Police Department since 2013 and is assigned to patrol. He is also a member of a regional drug investigative SWAT team and worked in a program designed to keep kids away from drugs, Chief Penny Vought said. He is married and is a father.

“This is the worst nightmare a law enforcement agency can face,” Vought said. “And we’re living it right now.”

Company fires holiday gift critic

WINONA (AP) — A man who complained on social media about his company’s holiday gift — barbecue sauce and a grill scraper — wound up getting fired for it.

The man, a Canadian branch manager for Minnesota company Fastenal, was dismissed just before New Year’s Day after he posted a tweet chiding the company for the gift choice.

The Star Tribune reported that Hussien Mehaidli tweeted, “What kind of multi billion company gifts its Canadian employees barbecue sauce as a holiday gift? Yet the USA employees stuff their face with an actual holiday giftbox?”

Fastenal said the tweet violated the company’s policy on social media posts. CEO Dan Florness said the policy about acceptable standards of conduct is given to every employee and posted on the company website.