Man Charged with Assaulting Two in Lakeville with Hunting Knife

A Farmington man has been charged with assault after police say he punched a woman last weekend in Lakeville, attacked a man who tried to come to her aid and then threatened both of them with a hunting knife.

Randall James Thole, 50, faces two felony charges of second-degree assault, each of which carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine.

Thole remained in the Dakota County Jail Wednesday on a $250,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled for Aug. 22 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.

According to the criminal complaint, Lakeville police responded to an apartment building about 1 a.m. Sunday after someone reported an assault with a weapon.

A man at the apartment complex told police that he was outside the building when he heard a woman screaming, “No, Randy! No, Randy!” He ran to the other side of his vehicle and found Thole punching the woman against the car, he said.

The witness began punching and pushing Thole to get him off the woman, and Thole punched him in the chest, he told police. The witness told Thole he needed to leave, and Thole “took off,” he said.

The witness said the female victim was calling 911 and screaming for someone to get the key. He told police that he had put the key into a second door to get inside the apartment complex when Thole appeared, swinging a large hunting knife with an 8- to 10-inch blade.

Thole swung the knife in the direction of the man’s stomach, and when he jumped away, Thole swung the knife at the woman’s stomach, according to the complaint.

The witness said he jumped on Thole and was able to wrestle the knife away from him, shove him outside the door and help the woman back inside the apartment building.

During the altercation, Thole threatened repeatedly to kill the woman, reported the witness, who suffered injuries on his abdomen and his arm from trying to wrest the knife away from Thole.

The female victim suffered cuts to her shoulder, hand and abdomen and was taken to the hospital in serious condition because of blood loss, the complaint says. Doctors applied sutures and staples to treat her arm and abdominal injuries.

Thole’s criminal record includes convictions for assault, criminal damage to property, burglary, domestic assault and possession of tear gas by an ineligible person.