HIBBING — A man allegedly shot a fellow partygoer once in the face and twice in the back outside an apartment building early Saturday, before returning to the gathering and pretending that nothing had occurred.

Authorities said Daniel James Dale, 30, changed his story several times but ultimately admitted to killing Parker Charles Johnson, 24, a stranger he had met moments earlier, in the parking lot of the Meadowview Apartments in what he suggested was a spontaneous act of self-defense.

The Hoyt Lakes man, in his final version of events, reportedly claimed that Johnson asked him to go outside and proceeded to point a shotgun at him for no apparent reason. The suspect told police he then drew his own weapon and immediately shot the Hibbing man two or three times.

However, investigator

See Full Page