A St. Paul man who killed his puppy with a hammer has been put on probation for three years.
Tyler John Van Lannen (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Tyler John Van Lannen, 30, lived at a New Brighton apartment building with his then-wife and their puppy at the time of the June 2024 killing, telling police after his arrest that he repeatedly struck the 6-month-old soft-coated Wheaten Terrier in the head because it kept barking.
Van Lannen was accepted into Ramsey County Mental Health Treatment Court on Dec. 17 and pleaded guilty to felony animal cruelty the same day. His plea came 10 days after he was arrested in Mendota Heights on suspicion of DWI.
He has two prior DWI convictions, both out of Ramsey County stemming from incidents about four months apart in 2021.
On Monday, Ramsey County District Judge Timothy Carey followed a plea agreement Van Lannen reached with the prosecution and stayed a one-year prison sentence for three years.
The sentence includes a stay of imposition, which means the conviction will become a misdemeanor if he successfully completes the conditions of his probation. Conditions include complying with all expectations of mental health treatment court, and random testing for alcohol and controlled substance use.
Bludgeoned dog found in trash bag
According to the criminal complaint, New Brighton police responded to an apartment building in the 2200 block of Palmer Drive around 3 p.m. June 23, 2024, on a report that a man had been verbally aggressive with his wife and had killed their puppy.
Officers saw a man matching the description walking from the building and carrying a large garbage bag. As officers drove toward him, he ran toward a dumpster.
As they approached, he said, “He wouldn’t stop barking, the dog,” the complaint read. He said he had killed the dog and that it was in the bag. Inside the bag was a curled-up, dead dog that appeared to have been bludgeoned. The man, Van Lannen, was arrested.
Back outside the apartment, officers met with Van Lannen’s wife. She said she’d been away from the apartment and received a call from him complaining about their puppy’s behavior. She said he then added, “So I killed it.”
She said that she came home and they argued, and that he left with the puppy in the garbage bag.
In an interview, Van Lannen told police they had been having problems with the puppy soiling the apartment. He said that on that day, he lost his patience, as the dog would not stop barking, and hit it on the head with a hammer about six times.
Van Lannen’s wife gave officers consent to search their apartment. She gave them a hammer, saying it was the only one they have; it was clean. In the living room was a pool of blood, along with excrement. The living-room floor had a divot that matched the head of a hammer.
About a month before the killing, the complaint said, Van Lannen’s wife reported to police that he was threatening her through texts. She gave police screenshots of aggressive and threatening texts from him.
‘Ready to get back up on my feet’
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Van Lannen appeared for sentencing in Ramsey County Mental Health Treatment Court via Zoom from an inpatient treatment center.
He chose not to address the court before hearing his sentence from Carey, who asked how he is doing.
“I’ve really gotten back into my faith. That’s my No. 1 thing,” he replied. “But I’m also ready to get back up on my feet, get better. I didn’t like being homeless and just being drunk.”
Court records show Van Lannen and his wife finalized a divorce two months after the puppy’s killing and that he later moved to St. Louis Park and then to a St. Paul homeless shelter.
He is due back in mental health treatment Court on March 16 for a progress check-in and Dakota County District Court on gross misdemeanor DWI charges April 28.
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