CAVALIER (AP) - A farmer accused of shooting Cavalier's police chief and setting fires in the courthouse and sheriff's office was in custody Saturday after his arrest at a hospital where he sought medical treatment for a gunshot wound.

James Thorlakson, of Hensel, was apprehended late Friday evening at a Park River hospital. His condition was not known.

Cavalier Police Chief Ken Wolf was hospitalized with a gunshot wound and was in stable condition.

Events started to unfold late Friday afternoon, when officers tried to serve Thorlakson with a protection order, the Grand Forks Herald reported in its Saturday edition. He escaped and drove eight miles to Cavalier, where shots were fired in the sheriff's office and a fire was set.

"It was quite an ordeal," according to a firefighter who did not want to be identified. "He had apparently left the scene and then came back. We had to drop everything and take cover.

"We were hiding behind the trucks. One of our units had three bullet holes in it, and another one had one. We were never sure if he was firing at us for trying to stop the fires or firing at the law enforcement officers."

The firefighter said the blazes at the courthouse started when cans of gasoline were tossed through glass doors of the two buildings.

The courthouse received extensive damage to the first floor, and the fire knocked out telephone service to the emergency dispatch center. The law enforcement center suffered minor damage, and the prisoners had to be relocated.

Katie Watson, who lives across the street from the courthouse, said officers and firefighters were screaming, and "there must have been 30 shots fired."

A neighbor ran through yards yelling for everyone to lock their doors. "My back door lock was broken, and I was afraid he'd come in and hide in my house," Watson said.

She grabbed her 1-year-old daughter, Amaya, and headed to a neighbor's.

"As I ran across the yard, that was when most of those 30 shots were fired," she said. "I ran pretty damn fast and was very scared. You never think gunshots are going to happen in a small town like this."