Feds file charges in funeral shooting

The Carlton County Attorney’s Office announced Friday that the man at the center of a shooting at a funeral last month is being charged in federal court, rather than state court.

Shelby Gene Boswell, 28, of Hugo, Minnesota was accused of shooting and injuring another man in the back of the head at a funeral ceremony Oct. 18 in the Head Start gymnasium on the Fond du Lac Reservation. Boswell was charged with both first- and second-degree assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm as well as second- and third-degree drug possession in 6th District Carlton County Court on Oct. 21.

Those charges are now being dismissed, after a grand jury in St. Paul, for the District of Minnesota, indicted Boswell with possession and discharge of a firearm (a .22 caliber rifle) by a convicted felon.

Despite the allegation that Boswell put a gun to a man’s head and pulled the trigger, county attorney Lauri Ketola said a review of the investigation did not support a charge of attempted murder.

Ketola explained that her office has been working closely with newly appointed U.S. Attorney Erica McDonald, “who has committed to prosecuting violent offenders, particularly those committing violent and drug offenses in Indian Country.”

Ketola said the mandatory minimum sentence is greater under the federal system, and sentences must be served consecutively. The fact that the offense was committed in a school zone — the Head Start building houses preschool classes, and is adjacent to the Fond du Lac Ojibwe K-12 school — brings with it a greater sentence.

According to the complaint, Boswell approached 45-year-old Broderick Boshay Robinson from behind before the funeral service started, then “produced a rifle and fired the rifle at the man’s head.” 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 was released the same day.

The incident shut down the heart of the Fond du Lac Reservation for more than two hours, as law enforcement officials from multiple agencies responded and Reservation officials made sure everyone was safe and had almost immediate access to mental health care.

It wasn’t the first violent crime Boswell has been accused of. Boswell was charged with two counts of second-degree assault in 2010 for beating three different people with a baseball bat when he previously lived in Carlton County — an incident they said was related to Native Mob gang membership — and another federal case of “assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering” in June 2012.

Ketola said her office is committed to prosecution that maximizes the long-term safety of the community and collaborates “with law enforcement and prosecution agencies at all levels of government” to accomplish that.

“The amount of time and resources required to successfully prosecute a violent offender is significant for an office our size,” Ketola wrote in response to questions from the Pine Knot News. “The assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in these efforts is greatly appreciated. Prosecution of Boswell by the U.S. Attorney’s Office is the best use of resources while seeking the most optimal result.”