Stewartville man arrested for threats against nursing home, deputies

(ABC 6 News) – A Stewartville man was arrested Friday for alleged threats to shoot employees at a nursing home and the sheriff’s deputies who responded to employees’ calls.

Javarie Smith, 20, faces two charges of felony terroristic threats and one charge of misdemeanor domestic assault.

The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office responded at about 6:20 a.m. to a nursing home in Stewartville, where employees said Smith was calling to falsely report that his 19-year-old girlfriend had COVID and needed to leave the building.

When employees refuted his claim, Smith allegedly called several times to demand that the girlfriend be sent home, and said he would “shoot the place up” if she did not appear at a certain time.

Capt. James Schueller with the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office said the responding deputy called for backup after the deputy listened to several calls on speaker phone, where Smith specifically threatened to bring an AR-15 to the business and send bullets “flying through the glass,” saying “your time has come to an end.”

The deputy also made contact with the 19-year-old woman, who confirmed that bruises on her face were from an assault that morning, after which Smith allegedly followed her to her workplace and threatened to kill her.

Sheriff’s deputies went to the woman’s apartment building, knocked and announced their presence for about 20 minutes, and then received a key and apartment layout from the building owner, Schueller said.

Smith allegedly called the nursing home during that time period to say the deputies had arrived.

Upon entry, deputies took Smith into custody. Schueller said they did not find a weapon on his person at that time, but “that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have access to one.”

Schueller said the transporting deputy also reported that Smith “began talking about killing police officers” and said he was a “sheriff’s office Olmsted County killer,” and that he would take the deputy’s rifle.

“Luckily, none of that came to fruition,” Schueller said.

Smith is currently being held at the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center.