Press Bar Shooter Sentenced to Prison

ST. CLOUD -- A Stearns County judge has denied a request for a lighter prison term and sentenced 25-year-old Cordney Holmes to almost 11 years behind bars for shooting a bar worker in downtown St. Cloud.

The Macon, Mississippi man previously pleaded guilty to one count of second degree attempted murder after he shot a Press Bar employee in March 2014.   Holmes fired six shots at James Gackstetter after he was asked to leave the bar.

According to the criminal complaint, Gackstetter told Holmes and two underage girls to leave the bar after Holmes was seen providing them alcohol. Once outside, Holmes took out a .38 caliber pistol and fired the shots, hitting Gackstetter three times, twice in the abdomen and once in the hand.

Holmes fled the scene and was tracked to an address approximately three blocks away and arrested. Police also found his discarded orange sweatshirt and a handgun in a nearby snowbank.

Gackstetter underwent abdominal surgery and survived the shooting.