Man arrested in Tuesday standoff charged with several felonies

Published 4:02 pm Thursday, March 9, 2023

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Terrance Gustaf Book, the man arrested following an hours-long standoff Tuesday at a southwest Austin residence, has been charged with a variety of felonies that include several weapons-related charges.

Terrance Book

Book was charged Thursday in Mower County District Court with a total of eight felonies from Tuesday’s incident that began a little before 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon and didn’t end until Book’s arrest a little before 9 p.m.

Charges include possession of firearms and ammunition along with charges of receiving stolen property, possession of an electronic incapacitation device, possession of a suppressor and fifth degree drugs possession.

Email newsletter signup

He has also been charged with additional felony counts of first degree robbery-possessing a dangerous weapon and felony theft of a motor vehicle in a separate case as well as a domestic abuse misdemeanor in a third case.

The two additional felonies relate to a case in December when police responded to a report of a stolen vehicle at 3 a.m. on Dec. 15 where Book was allegedly behind the driver’s seat of a vehicle taken from the 1000 block of Ninth Avenue SW.

According to the court complaint, video footage taken from the scene shows Book and two other men, Kenneth James Savoy, Jr. and Travis Allen Cameron, arriving at the scene and Savoy punching another man at the scene. Video also showed what appeared to be Book holding a long-barreled firearm.

Book is then seen allegedly getting into a 2008 black Jeep Liberty and driving away with the other two men following in another vehicle driven to the scene. The Jeep was later discovered engulfed in flames on 515th Avenue and 175th Street in Mower.

This is all on top of pending charges for second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon in Freeborn County and aggravated robbery in Mower County.

In the Freeborn assault case, Book is charged with second degree assault with a dangerous weapon after reportedly striking another man with a baseball bat in the parking lot of an Albert Lea hotel. According to the Freeborn County Attorney’s Office, Book currently has three active warrants out of Freeborn.

In December of last year a warrant was issued for failure to appear for a hearing in the assault case.

Tuesday’s incident in Austin began with a call at 1:51 p.m. when Austin Police were dispatched to 310 Second Street SW on a report of an assault.

According to a press release from APD Chief David McKichan on Wednesday, officers made contact with a female who alleged she had been assaulted by another female, who then went into the house with a number of other people.

According to the court complaint, Book was among those that fled into the house.

The woman also confirmed to police that Book was in the residence and that he had previously stolen some of her property. It was also made known to police that he may have weapons on the premises, including a sawed off .22 caliber rifle and a homemade suppressor underneath his bed.

According to the court complaint, officers made several attempts to contact the individuals in the house. Eventually, three individuals exited the residence but Book was not one of them.

During the length of the investigation, police had closed down both Second Street and Third Avenue SW to traffic to form a perimeter around the house and Austin’s Special Incident Response Team (SIRT), which was activated to assist, stationed their Humvee directly in front of the home on the front lawn.

Police also made contact with Book’s mother, who rents the home, and she advised officers that they did not have permission to enter the home, however, a search warrant was secured allowing police to enter and search.

The complaint goes on to say that during the search, SIRT operators eventually located Book hiding in the attic at around 8:50 p.m. He was arrested moments later.

The complaint states that during the search, officers observed a bag of ammunition at the residence and an amended search warrant was obtained because Book was disqualified from possession of firearm ammunition because of a prior conviction.

During the search police discovered a shotgun, the sawed off .22LR rifle, homemade silencer, Taser, a variety of ammunition and drug paraphernalia and what appeared to be marijuana wax, a potent form that can contain up to 90% THC.

It was later determined that the sawed-off rifle was reported stolen out of Freeborn County.

Book remains in custody in the Mower County Jail and his next scheduled court appearance is for an initial appearance on March 20.