Law enforcement: What does it mean

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Officer kills man in Kasota
Authorities say little about shooting

By Robb Murray
Free Press Staff Writer

KASOTA —
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 Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Department 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.”

http://www.mankatofreepress.com/local/local_story_202002804.html