Witnesses said former police officer Jason Mark Musburger had the facial expression of "a man on a mission" in March when he walked into Jim's Sports bar in Chisholm with two fully loaded handguns and shot and killed one man and wounded two others.
A grand jury was presented evidence of the shooting and has returned an indictment charging Musburger with first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder, St. Louis County Attorney Melanie Ford announced Wednesday.
The indictment also charges the defendant with harassment or stalking; violation of a restraining order involving his ex-wife, Janice Mehle; and possession of a pistol without a permit.
Musburger, 47, is being held in the St. Louis County Jail on $3 million bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on the new charges.
The defendant is being represented by Hibbing defense lawyer James Perunovich, who couldn't immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to police reports, the defendant had three confrontations with patrons of the Chisholm bar on the evening of March 6. In one, he flipped the baseball cap his ex-wife was wearing off her head and called her a derogatory name. He then got into an argument with a man. Cale Nelson, a former member of a U.S. Army Special Forces Unit who was a sniper in Bosnia, intervened and put Musburger on the ground. He held him there until Musburger acknowledged the confrontation was over.
According to police reports: Musburger told investigators that he felt humiliated by what happened in front of his ex-wife. He left the bar, went home and returned with a .38-caliber revolver and a
9-mm handgun. He walked up to the table where the previous altercation had occurred and where his ex-wife was sitting with three men. He fired one shot into the chest of 40-year-old Edward J. Walberg Jr., killing him; two shots into Nelson's torso, critically injuring him; and one shot into the shoulder of Larry Elj, who grappled with him.
The five shots emptied the revolver. He didn't get a chance to use the other gun. Bar patrons subdued Musburger until law enforcement officers arrived. Musburger's ex-wife told investigators she ran when she heard the first shot and was not hit.
