One in Custody, One Recovering After Battle Lake Bar Shooting
A victim is recovering after a bar shooting in Battle Lake, Minnesota.
The shooting took place outside of The Rusty Nail Bar early Sunday morning.
48-year-old Michael Spilde of Battle Lake is in custody for allegedly shooting 28-year-old Philip Kaste in his upper chest around 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
The Rusty Nail Bar did close Sunday because of the incident but reopened its doors Monday.
“It’s not what someone might think is a rough and tough bar. It’s a not that at all. It is a nice restaurant, nice food, owned by great people,” says Rezin Everts of Battle Lake.
The Battle Lake Police chief says this all started through heated words being exchanged.
He says the confrontation led one man, who they believe is Spilde to pull out a pistol and shoot Kaste.
Kaste was taken to Essentia Hospital in Fargo and is in the ICU.
“It’s one of those things that just happen. It happens in large cities, it happens in small towns across the United States. This is something we got to deal with. It’s not something we want to have happened everything obviously and hopes that it won’t happen again for a long time,” says Chief Kent Kortlever of Battle Lake Police.
A local man who’s lived here for more than 30 years says this is the first time an incident like this has happened and this shooting doesn’t paint what Battle Lake is really like.
Everts adds, “It’s a very close community, very much into the food and the food industry around here and tourism with the lakes and the fishing.”
Everts works at a lumber business a few doors down from where the shooting took place.
He says that Battle Lake is a quiet town most of the year and becomes vibrant and family-friendly when summer rolls around.
But this latest investigation has rattled the community.
“I haven’t talked to a whole lot of people about it but people are definitely shaken up a little bit over it,” says Everts.
Phillip’s family did set up a Go-Fund-Me account to help pay for his medical expenses.
