Holiday Hostage Taker Gets 60 Months in Prison

The man responsible for the Sept. 7 Holiday gas station standoff in Burnsville was sentenced to 60 months in prison, the Dakota County Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

Ariel Luis Barnett, 31, of Burnsville, had pleaded guilty Dec. 18 to two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of kidnapping and one count of felon in possession of a firearm.

“We are pleased to have brought the defendant to justice for his violent criminal behavior in this domestic-related incident,” a news release quoted Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom. “We are also grateful that no one was seriously harmed during this tense stand-off.”

Barnett held two employees hostage at gunpoint at the Holiday gas station on Nicollet Avenue near Highway 13. He entered the station armed with a sawed-off shotgun and fired the gun into the ceiling of the store. One customer ran out of the building.

Barnett ordered his former girlfriend, who was an employee of the store, and a male employee to call police because he was taking them hostage. Barnett told both of them that their lives were in danger.

At 6:15 p.m. that evening, Burnsville police were dispatched to the scene and surrounded the gas station.  Officers were able to make contact with Barnett by phone and talked him into first releasing the male employee and eventually to surrender.

Barnett had been in a seven-year relationship with the woman, and they recently separated after he was incarcerated in Rice County for 53 days on an unrelated matter.