Officer kills man in Kasota
By Robb Murray
Mankato Free Press
Updated: 07/21/2009 09:48:47 AM CDT
In the parking lot of a Kasota apartment building Monday, Jolene Manderfield watched a cop fire four bullets into the chest of Tyler Heilman.
Moments later — after administering CPR for 15 minutes — she watched him die.
"He shot him right in the heart," Manderfield said. "I knew I wasn't going to be able to bring him back."
Still, she tried. And as she compressed his heart and frantically spoke his name, sirens sounded and people gathered, and word quickly spread among Kasotans that Heilman, a 24-year-old stay-at-home dad, had been killed by a cop many in town seemed to know, but whom authorities declined to identify.
One person who heard those sirens was Abby Bauleke, Heilman's girlfriend.
"I tried calling him and sending him messages ...
"Then I heard the helicopter and I came down," she said, sobbing. "I got down here and said, 'Tell me it's not him!' And they said, 'It's him.' " She said she asked anyone who would listen to tell her what happened, but no one seemed to know the full story. Even Le Sueur County Sheriff Dave Gliszinski, addressing the media at about 9:15 p.m. Monday, declined to answer questions about the incident.
But a lot of bystanders seemed to know at least one side of the story, the one provided by witnesses.
Heilman and a friend, they say, were driving around Kasota at about 3:30 p.m. Monday when Heilman committed a traffic offense, perhaps running through a stop sign. At some point, an investigator with the
Advertisement
Le Sueur County sheriff's office followed Heilman and confronted him in the parking lot of the Valley View Apartments.
An argument ensued, and it was overheard by Manderfield, who was walking from the parking lot to the front door of the apartment building at the time.
The argument, which some said escalated to a physical altercation, prompted Manderfield to turn around and investigate. And as she turned the corner, she said she saw the officer reach for his gun, pull it out, point it at Heilman and fire what she believes was four shots into his chest (some in town say they heard just three shots.) Heilman had been swimming at Lake Emily and was wearing nothing but his trunks.
"(The officer) pulled out his gun and just started shooting," Manderfield said. "He didn't yell 'Freeze!' or anything. I said, 'What are you doing!' "
Manderfield administered CPR until paramedics arrived, but she says she knew immediately that it was hopeless.
"It was so senseless. (Heilman's) arms were like this," she said, raising her arms straight out from her sides. "I saw him. He knew (Heilman) didn't have a weapon."
In the city park across the street from the apartments, friends kept vigil.
Jeremy Cummins was among the most emotional, and his outrage prompted law enforcement officials to warn him several times to calm down.
He insisted Heilman, who recently underwent brain surgery after falling into a fire pit, didn't deserve what happened to him, and he wants the authorities to answer for killing his friend.
"I showed up because it's my buddy laying back there dead," he said. "They put three across his chest because he fought back."
Michael Passmore was Heilman's friend, too.
"He was the best friend I grew up my whole life with," Passmore said before Cummins interjected.
"They ain't got him covered or nothing," a tearful Cummins said, referring to Heilman's corpse, which remained uncovered — but mostly out of view — most of the evening.
Bauleke said she'd been dating Heilman for seven years, and that he had been a good father to their 3-year-old son, Haydin.
"He was always there for him," she said. "He was an all-around good person. He would do anything for you."
The crowd remained vigilant — and emotional — well into the evening.
Several of Heilman's friends got worked up when they saw someone they thought was taking pictures of Heilman's body, yelling " vulture!" and strings of expletives.
And as that commotion rose, a Twin Cities television crew turned its camera from the scene of the shooting to the verbal melee. And then the crowd turned on the Twin Cities television crew.
Several yelled at the photographer, while others pressed their middle fingers up against the camera lens.
Gliszinski arrived and calmed the situation, shaking Cummins' hand and listening to what Cummins had to say.
Gliszinski said the investigation, because it involves a member of his department, will be handled by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. At the news conference Monday, he said he expected BCA investigators to be at the scene throughout the night.
He said he expects to be able to release more information about the incident today.
The coverage is pretty one-sided with the only quotes from 'friends' of the deceased and I haven't used my 'Google-fu' to track down any other reports, so take it for what it's worth at this point.
