Fergus Falls man charged after sword threat, clash with police

A Friberg Avenue apartment complex in Fergus Falls turned into a police scene Thursday after a property manager heard yelling while cleaning a unit, looked outside and saw 24-year-old Alexander James Goeller holding a samurai sword and shouting profane threats at a woman.

Investigators say security footage then captured a sequence that raised the stakes far beyond a routine disturbance. Goeller was wearing a white mask, handling the sword recklessly in the parking lot, gesturing toward the building and spitting on the woman’s car door. The complaint also says he brought the blade to his own throat and made a slow cutting motion toward the victim, a moment that helped frame the call as a serious threats-of-violence case.

Police arrested Goeller after the confrontation at the apartment complex, and local reporting says he was also accused of assaulting a Fergus Falls police officer during the encounter. He faces charges of second-degree assault, fourth-degree assault, obstructing the legal process with force and concealing his identity in a public place.

The case has drawn attention in Fergus Falls, the county seat of Otter Tail County, where the Otter Tail County Courthouse handles criminal cases filed in the county. That makes the local district court the venue for the next phase of a case that already touched a residential block, a parking lot and a police response that escalated fast enough to end in multiple criminal allegations.

Court records also point to earlier Minnesota proceedings involving Goeller, including a burglary-related Otter Tail County case tied to break-ins in Ottertail and Wadena, adding background that prosecutors and defense attorneys are likely to weigh as the case moves forward. For neighbors on Friberg Avenue, the episode underscored how quickly a confrontation in a multi-unit building can spill into a public safety crisis, pulling tenants, managers and officers into the same volatile scene.