Aarness is charged with attempted first-degree assault near Whitewater.

Charges, and allegations in an arrest affidavit, are accusations. They are not a conviction. On Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, the Mesa County Sheriff's Office arrested him near a trail at Colorado Highway 141 and 31 4/10 Road by Whitewater, Colorado, at about 7:45 p.m. The Grand Junction Sentinel, citing the arrest affidavit, reported counts of attempted first-degree assault with a deadly weapon, attempt to influence a public servant, violation of a protection order, domestic violence, prohibited use of a weapon, and felony menacing.

The affidavit, as the Sentinel reported it, says a caller reported multiple gunshots, and that Aarness's ex-wife told deputies he had been shooting at her while she was in his truck. None of the bullets hit her. Deputies found a hole in one of the truck's taillights. They found ammunition and a gun case in the truck. The affidavit did not say deputies found a gun. A gunshot-residue kit from his hands was sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Those are allegations in an affidavit. They are not findings, and a kit sent to a lab is not a lab result.

He is held at the Mesa County Detention Facility on a $100,000 cash bond. A cash bond is a custody condition. It is not a conviction. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.