Shooting shocks funeral gatherers

The man allegedly responsible for the shooting Friday that shut down many of the buildings at the heart of the Fond du Lac Reservation was charged in Sixth District Carlton County Court Monday.

Shelby Gene Boswell, 28, of Hugo, Minnesota is accused of shooting and injuring another man, 45-year-old Broderick Boshay Robinson of Minneapolis, in the back of the head at a funeral Friday in the Head Start gymnasium. Boswell faces charges of both first- and second-degree assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm as well as second- and third-degree drug possession.

"Shelby Boswell entered a community center building which housed some of the community's most vulnerable, its Head Start students," said assistant Carlton County attorney Jeffrey Boucher, asking for high bail and no pretrial release in court Friday.

"He entered a funeral ceremony in the gym there, pointed a rifle and fired, striking a man in the head. This specific offense raises the highest concern for public safety."

According to the criminal complaint, officers from multiple agencies responded to "shots fired" in the Head Start gymnasium just after 9:45 a.m. Friday, where a funeral ceremony for Hazel Olson, 77, was being held.

Boswell's sister was at the funeral. According to the complaint, her boyfriend, Robinson, was seated next to her. Boswell approached Robinson from behind, "produced a rifle and fired the rifle at the man's head," the complaint stated, noting that Robinson was struck in the back of the head but remained conscious, and turned and saw the defendant pointing the rifle at him.

At that point, family members and funeral attendees moved to block Boswell from firing again, disarmed him and took the rifle to an empty locker in a nearby room. Robinson ran from the gym to another area. Robinson was taken to Community Memorial Hospital in Cloquet, then transferred to Essentia St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth and released Friday night.

According to the complaint, Boswell was "briefly detained" but then left the gym before police came. Fond du Lac police officers were the first to arrive on the scene, and they found Boswell in the parking lot outside the Head Start building and detained him there.

While police were taking him into custody, Boswell moved his hands to retrieve something from his pocket and officers discovered he had a bag of what later field-tested to be 3.5 grams of heroin. Police officers also allegedly located a smaller bag of methamphetamine in Boswell's possession and jail officers later discovered a small bag of marijuana in his possession.

It wasn't the first violent crime Boswell has been accused of, prosecuting attorney Boucher said, pointing out that Boswell was charged with two counts of second-degree assault in 2010 for beating three different people with a baseball bat - an incident they said was related to Native Mob gang membership - and a federal case of "assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering" in June 2012.

"He was an admitted member of the Native Mob," Boucher said.

Boucher argued against pretrial release based on a number of factors, including bench warrants issued for past failure to appear in court and the fact that Boswell was being charged with a very serious crime that, if convicted, would very likely mean prison time. Boswell has already served prison time for his previous offenses.

After hearing arguments Monday, Sixth District Judge Rebekka Stumme ruled that Boswell was not a candidate for pretrial release and set bail at $500,000 with no lesser cash option.

The courtroom was nearly empty for Boswell's hearing, with only a woman and child appearing to be there on his behalf.

Reservation locked down

The courtroom hearing Monday morning was fairly short and dispassionate, in direct contrast to the fear and lengthy lockdown sparked by the alleged shooting Friday, Oct. 18, when initial reports appeared to place "shots fired" at the Fond du Lac Ojibwe School.

The reservation was locked down for approximately two hours. Police blocked off the University Road, which leads to the Head Start building and the school beyond. Initially, officials were not releasing any details of the incident, but rumors on social media and early releases initially placed the shots inside the Fond du Lac Ojibwe school.

That is what the first 911 call said, but police officers quickly learned that the incident happened in the Head Start building.

"It was a very chaotic scene because of the nature of the incident," said interim Cloquet police chief Derek Randall during a press conference later Friday afternoon. "We tried to interview everyone we could, and we got IDs and contact information for others. People who were having a mental health crisis because of the event were taken to a crisis team for help."

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was in charge of processing the crime scene and the police are in possession of the rifle that was used, Randall said. He added that police believe it was an isolated incident but stressed the investigation will take time due to the severity of the alleged crime and the number of witnesses and agencies involved.

"We don't believe this was a random act, but the investigation is ongoing to determine why this happened," Randall said.

Fond du Lac Chairman Kevin Dupuis Sr. expressed his thanks to the myriad agencies that helped.

"I want to congratulate and thank everyone for their prompt response," he said. "The local agencies coming together for the same cause, to clear the area, to make sure that everybody's safe. How the lockdown went, how smooth it went, the investigation process - it was taken care of."

Officers from multiple agencies responded. In addition to Fond du Lac and Cloquet, other assisting agencies included the Carlton County Sheriff's Office, the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office, Minnesota State Patrol, Floodwood Police and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The Cloquet Area Fire District and Carlton County Attorney's Office also assisted and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was in charge of the crime scene once they arrived.

After the lockdown was over, all Reservation staff and Ojibwe School staff were sent home for the rest of the day.

Moving forward

"This happens everywhere, but it really hurts when it happens in your own community," Fond du Lac communications director Rita Aspinwall told media during an earlier impromptu interview Friday while much of the reservation was still on lockdown.

Randall said school was not in session Friday but there were a number of students present at the school for another event, adding that there weren't any children in the Head Start building.

Dupuis said he headed over to the funeral from the community center where the RBC offices are located as soon as he heard something was happening.

"How do you think you would feel if your community was hit with something like that at one of the most important ceremonies our people have?" Dupuis said, confirming that he had attended the wake the evening before. The chairman came to the press conference directly from the restarted funeral.

"The first thing was to continue with the funeral, to take care of that person and send that person home the right way," Dupuis said, when asked how the tribe was helping its members move forward.

Dupuis explained that they moved the people from the funeral in the Head Start building to the Natural Resources building to meet with counselors and staff there and to also figure out how to restart the funeral process.

"We knew there was going to be a time constraint because we have to have that done before it gets dark," Dupuis said, referring to the Ojibwe funeral ceremony.

Aspinwall said neither the victim nor the shooter are enrolled Fond du Lac Band members, although it was revealed during the court proceedings that Boswell lived on the Fond du Lac reservation from 2003 to 2007.

According to the Fond du Lac website, there were numerous resources for band members at the Ojibwe school over the weekend including spiritual advisors, elders, mental health professionals, Red Cross workers and a healing drum.

People were encouraged to come, bring a dish to share and spend time together: "Embracing each other in our time of need, sharing what has been experienced, and acknowledging what is being felt. wiidookawishin (help us)," the announcement read.

Dupuis explained that the crisis unit set up at the Natural Resources building on the reservation starting Friday - made up of mental health counselors from Fond du Lac, other tribes and, hopefully, nearby communities - is expected to be available throughout this week.

"We know it was a stress on the family and the entire community," Dupuis said at the press conference. "It doesn't just affect Fond du Lac, it affects everywhere," he said, noting that services were available for anyone who was affected by the incident.