Authorities searched the South St. Paul home of a man with a history of making threats against law enforcement and found drugs and approximately 90 guns, including a rifle with a scope set up on a tripod overlooking the front door, according to court documents.
Kollin J. Konitzer, 34, is well known to authorities “due to his concerning, escalating pattern of conduct” toward law enforcement, the documents say.
Kollin J. Konitzer (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)
So when South St. Paul police learned the afternoon of Aug. 19 that Konitzer was on his way to city hall to talk about a records request, he was met in a lobby by a commander.
The officer saw that Konitzer had a gun at his hip under his shirt, then discovered he did not have a permit to carry a firearm, according to a criminal complaint filed in Dakota County District Court.
Konitzer was arrested and jailed, and police filed a petition for an extreme risk protection order against him the same day alleging that he has made several threats to law enforcement and his ex-partners.
On Wednesday, agents with the Dakota County Drug Task Force executed a search warrant on Konitzer’s home in the 300 block of Seventh Avenue South and found the stockpile of handguns, shotguns and rifles, according to a complaint in that case.
A safe in his bedroom included 0.91 grams of fentanyl and a pill bottle — with no identifying prescription information — that contained 53 pills of methylphenidate, a controlled substance primarily used to treat ADHD, the complaint says.
Konitzer’s LinkedIn page says he is the owner and founder of Alphabet Soup Arms LLC, a business that was registered with the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State in November and is considered active. The online record cites his South St. Paul home as the principal place of business.
The petition for an extreme risk protection order, which a judge granted Aug. 20, details a history of alleged threatening behavior toward law enforcement, including a “comment that he could kill the police chief before he could return fire,” the document reads. He also allegedly has made “countless” social media posts promoting anti-government ideology.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s Behavioral Threat Assessment Team considers Konitzer to be a threat “due to his concerning, escalating pattern of conduct” toward law enforcement, according to the petition.
The BCA, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and South St. Paul police have all issued officer-safety alerts about Konitzer, and the city of Osseo is forwarding charges for disorderly conduct for his interaction with a front desk clerk, the petition continues.
Loaded 9 mm handgun
Because of his prior interactions with South St. Paul clerical staff, Konitzer has been directed to interact with police commanders, the charges say.
When Cmdr. Dan Salmey met Konitzer at the front window of the police department lobby, he said he wanted data he had requested several years prior regarding an interaction with officers. He also said he wanted to file a complaint related to the data request.
Salmey saw the outline of a handgun through Konitzer’s shirt. At one point he grabbed the grip of the firearm with his middle, ring and pinky fingers, “leaving his index finger free,” the charges say. Salmey then reviewed a prior investigation involving Konitzer and learned he does not have a valid permit to carry a pistol.
Salmey returned to the lobby and asked Konitzer if he had a firearm on him. He replied, “Oh absolutely,” the complaint states.
Konitzer’s 9 mm Sig Sauer handgun had one round in the chamber and 12 rounds in the magazine.
As Konitzer was being placed under arrest, he reportedly said, “I have been waiting for this.” Another officer tried to read Konitzer his Miranda warning, but he became “irate” and began screaming and swearing at the officer. Konitzer invoked his right to remain silent.
Dakota County prosecutors charged Konitzer with possession of a pistol in a public place without a permit, a gross misdemeanor, and five counts of felony fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance.
At a first court appearance Friday on the drug charges, prosecutors requested that Konitzer be held on “significant” bail — $150,000, without conditions — due to the extreme risk protection order and the guns found at his home. He was released from the Dakota County Jail after posting a $100,000 bond with conditions, including no possession of firearms.
An attorney in the drug case is not listed in the court file, and a court-appointed assistant public defender in the no-permit gun case did not immediately return a message Monday asking for comment.
Konitzer does not have a criminal history, other than a speeding ticket.
Grievances with the BCA
The extreme risk protection order petition recounts Konitzer’s other alleged threatening and questionable behavior with government agencies.
The BCA reported that Konitzer has had grievances with the agency’s firearms-instructor certification, and that he has been creating his own certificates purporting to allow the user to conceal and carry, despite lacking BCA approval, the petition alleges.
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In January, Konitzer issued a certificate to an individual who was later denied a permit in Anoka County. In response, Konitzer told Anoka County that “his group would be backed, and they would be armed,” the petition reads.
In April, Konitzer went to the South St. Paul police lobby and made obscene gestures to a staff member.
After his application to become a South St. Paul police cadet was denied, the petition says, Konitzer emailed city staff in July, stating, “We’ll break that thin blue line of tyranny one way or another!”
Konitzer also allegedly had approached South St. Paul officers’ squad vehicles after making social media posts about Molotov cocktails, explosives and firearms.
Recently, he went to the South St. Police Department and the BCA’s headquarters in St. Paul while armed and wearing a tactical vest, according to the petition.
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