Editing Gordon Kahl (section)

==Confrontation and shootout near Medina, North Dakota==
On February 13, 1983, the [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals]] attempted to arrest Kahl for violating his parole as he was leaving a Posse Comitatus meeting in [[Medina, North Dakota]].<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|date=February 10, 2013 |title=Timeline of shootout in Medina, ND |url=https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/timeline-shootout-medina-nd |access-date=December 27, 2020}}</ref> In the car with Kahl were his wife Joan, his son Yorie Von, and three others who had been at the meeting. According to Scott Faul's testimony, both Gordon Kahl and Yorie Von Kahl were armed with [[Ruger Mini-14]] rifles.<ref name="scottfaul">[http://scottfaul.com/PDF/15-210.pdf Doug Ketcham & Associates, Fargo (701) 237-0275] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090320155837/http://scottfaul.com/PDF/15-210.pdf |date=March 20, 2009 }}</ref> The conflict began when federal marshals created a [[roadblock]] a few miles north of Medina.<ref>[http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=15799 ''Officials Remember Medina Shootout 25 Years Ago Today''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406032729/http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=15799 |date=April 6, 2008 }} KFYR-TV, Bismarck, N.D., February 13, 2008.</ref> When the Kahl party met the marshals at the roadblock, a short but intense [[shootout|firefight]] erupted. The gun battle left Marshals Kenneth Muir and Robert Cheshire dead, and Marshal Jim Hopson, Medina Police Department Officer Steve Schnabel, and Stutsman County Sheriff Deputy Bradley Kapp injured. Yorie Von Kahl was also wounded during the firefight. The Kahl party fired over a dozen rounds during the [[gunfight]], while the marshals and officers fired eight. Three [[Law enforcement officer|lawmen]] fired their weapons during the confrontation, and only one, Marshal Carl Wigglesworth, escaped the gunfight unharmed by hiding in a ditch.<ref>''The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right'' (Daniel Levitas) {{ISBN|0312320418}}</ref>

According to the U.S. Marshals Service, the Kahl party was traveling north out of Medina in two vehicles. Deputy Bradley Kapp and Marshals Robert Cheshire and Jim Hopson followed the Kahl party, while Medina police officer Steven Schnabel and Marshals Kenneth Muir and Carl Wigglesworth moved south towards Medina in two cars to intercept the Kahl party.

At one point, the Kahl party took a wrong turn off of a highway. As they attempted to back out, Cheshire blocked their escape with his vehicle, while Marshal Muir and Officer Schnabel blocked the Kahls from the north. It was then that the arrest attempt was made. The lawmen exited the vehicles with their weapons drawn and ordered Kahl to surrender. Gordon Kahl, his son Yorie Von, and friend Scott Faul exited their vehicles armed with [[Ruger Mini-14]] rifles. Gordon took cover behind his vehicle, Yorie Von took cover behind a telephone pole, and Scott Faul ran from the highway towards a set of trees, seeking better cover. Marshal Wigglesworth ran after Faul and attempted to cut him off but became stuck in a thick swamp. Meanwhile, Cheshire attempted to get Kahl to surrender, but Kahl refused and told the marshals to "back off". The tense standoff continued for several more minutes before a shot was abruptly fired by one of the men.

The U.S. Marshals Service stated that Yorie Von Kahl fired the first shot at Cheshire from behind a [[telephone pole]]. The [[gunshot wound| shot]] struck Cheshire in the chest, fatally wounding him. Yorie Von then fired a second shot at Deputy Bradley Kapp but missed. Kapp returned fire with a [[shotgun]] and fired four times at Yorie Von, seriously wounding him in the chest and face. As Kapp turned from the downed Yorie Von, Gordon fired at least one round through the windshield of Kapp's vehicle, wounding Kapp in the forehead with glass fragments. As Kapp fell behind his car door, Gordon fired two or three more times, and a round struck and shattered Kapp's body armor. The fatally wounded Cheshire managed to fire three rounds from his [[AR-15]], all of which missed. Meanwhile, Scott Faul, taking cover in the nearby woods, fired at least seven rounds at Kapp and Cheshire's vehicle. One of Faul's shots hit the already wounded Cheshire a second time, and a bullet blew off Kapp's [[index finger]]. A third shot hit the pavement, and a piece of asphalt struck Marshal Hopson in the ear, causing Hopson to suffer permanent [[brain damage]].

Wounded and out of ammunition, Kapp retreated to a ditch, but was unable to reload his shotgun due to the wound in his hand. 

With Kapp down, Gordon turned to face US Marshal Kenneth Muir and Medina police officer Steve Schnabel, just as Muir fired off one round from a [[.38 caliber]] [[revolver]]. Muir's shot hit the already wounded Yorie Von Kahl square in the chest, but the bullet struck a revolver Yorie Von wore on a shoulder holster, and therefore did not enter his heart. Before Muir could fire another shot, Kahl fired one round from his rifle at Muir, killing the marshal with a shot to the chest. Schnabel tried to return fire with his shotgun, but Gordon fired three more rounds at the officer as he tried to aim his weapon. One shot [[ricochet]]ed, striking Schnabel in the back of the leg. The wounded Schnabel retreated to the side of the road and took cover in a ditch. The entire firefight lasted about thirty seconds.

Kahl then moved towards Cheshire's vehicle. As Kahl approached, the wounded Kapp decided to flee and began running south, back towards Medina. Kahl chose not to shoot the fleeing officer, and instead turned to the fatally wounded Cheshire, who was trying to climb back inside his vehicle. Seeing that Cheshire was still alive, Kahl killed the dying marshal with two more shots to the head. Gordon Kahl then walked over to Muir and Schnabel's vehicles as Scott Faul tended to the wounded Yorie Von Kahl. Moving to the side of the road, Kahl approached and confronted the wounded Schnabel, but chose not to kill him.<ref name=":0">James Corcoran, ''Bitter Harvest: Gordon Kahl and the Rise of the Posse Comitatus in the Heartland'', {{ISBN|0670815616}}</ref>{{Page number needed|date=May 2025}} After taking Schnabel's shotgun and revolver, Kahl then took Schnabel's police car and, after leaving the wounded Yorie Von Kahl at a Medina health clinic, fled to [[Arkansas]]. Kahl abandoned the stolen police car just outside of Medina. Yorie Von Kahl was immediately arrested after being treated at the clinic, while Scott Faul turned himself in to police.