A 28-year-old Ham Lake man is facing a felony charge after allegedly pointing a handgun at two men following a road rage dispute near a busy St. Cloud intersection on Tuesday. Zacharie Ziniel is accused of drawing the weapon after an argument that started when the men said they had inadvertently cut off his pickup truck in traffic.
According to WJON, St. Cloud police were dispatched to a gun call at the intersection of Highway 15 and 3rd Street North on Tuesday after the two men reported that a passenger in the pickup truck yelled at them before pointing a handgun in their direction. The men told officers they had inadvertently cut off the truck, prompting the confrontation, per the outlet's report on the criminal complaint.
Rather than driving off, the victims recorded the pickup truck's license plate on a cell phone and later submitted that footage, along with a description of the man involved, to police. Court records show the truck is registered to Ziniel, and investigators determined his description matched the account given by the victims.
Ziniel's Account Differs From the Victims'
When police contacted Ziniel, he reportedly admitted to getting into the altercation with the victims over their erratic driving. But his version of events departs sharply from what the men told officers: Ziniel allegedly said he had his pistol out only to show it to the truck's driver, and he denied ever pointing it at the two men, according to the same WJON report.
Stearns County prosecutors were not persuaded enough by that account to hold off on charges. Ziniel was charged in Stearns County District Court with one felony count of threats of violence with reckless disregard. Jail roster records from the Stearns County Sheriff's Office, updated Wednesday, show Ziniel was booked under court docket CR-26-6544 facing both the threats charge and a felony second-degree assault charge with a dangerous weapon under Minnesota Statute § 609.222.1.
What a Conviction Could Mean
Under Minnesota Statute § 609.713, a conviction for felony threats of violence — whether made with intent to terrorize or in reckless disregard of causing terror — carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. A legal overview from the Balmer Law Office notes that because the offense is classified as a crime of violence, a conviction would also strip Ziniel of his firearm possession rights and his voting rights.
Public booking logs compiled by Minnesota Arrests show this is not Ziniel's first encounter with law enforcement; he was previously arrested and booked in Anoka County in 2017, when he was 26. It remains unclear whether Ziniel held a valid permit to carry a pistol at the time of Tuesday's incident, and whether Stearns County prosecutors intend to pursue the second-degree assault allegation reflected in his booking alongside the threats charge.
A Pattern of Armed Confrontations on St. Cloud Roads
This is the second gun-related road rage case to surface in St. Cloud in less than a month. Hoodline reported three weeks ago that Stearns County prosecutors charged 38-year-old Marlowe Montgomery with felony threats after he allegedly pointed a handgun at a motorist during a separate St. Cloud road rage encounter.
The intersection where Tuesday's confrontation unfolded has its own troubled history. The St. Cloud Area Planning Organization has designated the junction of Highway 15 and 3rd Street North as a high critical crash rate intersection in its regional transportation planning assessments. The stretch of 3rd Street North running between Highway 15 and Division Street in Waite Park carries a 35 mph speed limit, set after a study by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, according to WJON.
Armed road rage is not a fringe phenomenon in Minnesota. A legal analysis from Ben Crump Law, citing Minnesota State Patrol data, found that troopers received 119 separate calls in a single year regarding drivers pointing guns at other motorists, out of more than 57,000 total driving complaints statewide. Research published by Everytown Research & Policy in December 2024 found that roughly 37 percent of aggressive driving confrontations involve a firearm, and that drivers who carry guns are statistically more likely to display aggressive driving behavior. A ConsumerAffairs study published in May 2026, citing AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety survey data, found that 96 percent of American drivers admitted to engaging in aggressive driving or road rage behavior within the previous year.
