A 24-year-old Minnesota man was sentenced to 10 years in prison this week after attempting to shoot and kill his father’s girlfriend with a rifle, prosecutors announced.
Judge Michelle Anderson convicted Landon Terrance Tuomala of one count of attempted second-degree murder with intent following a stipulated evidence trial in St. Louis County. The judge handed down a 120-month prison sentence, a downward departure from the state sentencing guidelines of 173 months, which prosecutors had opposed.
The charges stem from an incident on the evening of Aug. 26, 2024, at a residence on East Third Avenue South in Aurora.
According to criminal complaints, emergency dispatchers received two 911 calls shortly before 7 p.m. The first came from a neighbor reporting an unseen woman yelling for help. The second call came from Tuomala himself, who told dispatchers he had just shot someone and was no longer armed.
When East Range Police Department officers arrived at the home, Tuomala walked outside with his hands raised. Police said he initially believed he had struck the woman.
Investigators learned that the victim had just walked into the home she shared with Tuomala and his father when she saw Tuomala aiming a .30-30 lever-action rifle at her. She immediately turned and ran outside. While fleeing, the woman tripped and fell to the ground just as Tuomala fired, causing the bullet to pass over her body without hitting her.
Officers found the victim sitting in a nearby pickup truck, where neighbors had brought her for safety after hearing what they described as a “ba-boom” sound followed by screams. Responding officers noted the woman was “visibly upset and shaking.”
The victim told investigators that after falling, she stood back up and saw Tuomala still pointing the rifle in her direction before she managed to escape. According to police charging documents, “[The] victim said she was terrified and thought she was going to die.”
Investigators later recovered a stray bullet inside a neighboring house.
The victim told police that Tuomala had recently moved in with her and his father after being discharged from two separate treatment centers.
According to the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office, the court ruled that Tuomala did not meet the legal threshold for a mental illness defense. However, the judge granted the reduced sentence after finding that he lacked substantial capacity for judgment due to a mental or physical impairment at the time of the shooting.
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