An Arden Hills bar owner has admitted to stashing the gun his friend used to fatally shoot a man during a fight inside the business, then lying to investigators by claiming the shooting was not captured on video surveillance.
James Henrey Welsch, 49, of Vadnais Heights, pleaded guilty this week to aiding an offender by being an accomplice after the fact in connection with the March 25, 2022, shooting at Welsch’s Big Ten Tavern.
Eric Baker, 47, of Minneapolis, shot 36-year-old Dustin Kukowski, of Mounds View, who died 11 days later.
James Henrey Welsch, left, Eric Baker, right (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Baker planned to argue self-defense at trial but accepted an 11-year-old prison sentence under a December deal with prosecutors that saw him plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter.
Welsch reached a plea agreement with prosecutors Monday, the same day his trial was to start.
Attorneys agreed that the felony offense should be ranked at a severity level of seven, resulting in a stayed prison sentence and probation, Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said. Sentencing will be Sept. 6.
Welsch claimed he found gun outside
Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to the bar at 4703 U.S. Highway 10 around 12:30 a.m. and saw a patron holding napkins to Kukowski’s chest. He was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where doctors performed several surgeries to try to save his life. The father of two died April 5.
A bar patron told deputies he saw Baker and Kukowski fighting before the shooting. Deputies recovered a 9mm casing from the bar and later arrested Baker at a Roseville hotel. He declined to speak to authorities.
Welsch told deputies he was downstairs at the bar when the shooting took place. He was evasive when asked about Baker and denied having a phone number for him, according to the criminal complaint.
Dustin Kukowski, 36, of Mounds View, was shot on March 25, 2022, at Welsch’s Big Ten Tavern in Arden Hills and died April 5, 2022, while hospitalized. The shooter, Eric Eugene Baker, DOB: 11/22/1976, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison March 12, 2024, after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter. (Courtesy of Debbie Kukowski)
Deputies found images on Facebook that showed Welsch and Baker together at the Minnesota Wild game earlier that night. Welsch then admitted he had a phone number for Baker and gave it to deputies.
Welsch agreed to let deputies look at the bar’s surveillance system. The equipment did not appear to be powered up, and Welsch said he was in the middle of construction projects and that he had not used his camera system for a while.
Later that day, an investigator took a call from someone who wanted to remain anonymous and said that Welsch and Baker are “best friends” and that the bar’s surveillance video system worked, the complaint says.
A bartender later told investigators she grabbed the gun off the bartop after the shooting so that no one else would be hurt. She said she brought it to the kitchen and showed Welsch, who took the gun downstairs, according to the complaint.
Four days after the shooting, Welsch reported finding the Glock 9mm under trash bins at the bar. The handgun did not have a magazine when an investigator recovered it.
Welsch later that day said he didn’t remember much from the night of the shooting because he was drunk.
Investigators told Welsch that they knew he had taken possession of the gun that night. Welsch then admitted he grabbed the gun from a kitchen counter, unloaded it and hid it in the basement rafters, the complaint said. He said he later put the gun outside to get some distance from it, and apologized for not telling deputies where it was on the night of the shooting. He said he did not know where the gun’s magazine went.
Investigators opened the bar’s digital video recorder and discovered the hard drive had been disconnected from its contact site. Investigators cloned Welsch’s network video recorder and found video that stopped about a half-hour after the shooting.
Attorney: He’s remorseful
Defense attorney Thomas Kelly said Friday that Welsch had been grieving the sudden loss of his mother and turned to alcohol to deal with it, “leading to actions that were out of character for him.”
Welsch has been sober for more than two years “and his life is quite different than it was on March 25, 2022,” Kelly said.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man who bludgeoned Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer and was sentenced to 30 years in federal court was also convicted Friday of aggravated kidnapping by a state court which could put him behind bars for life.
A federal judge last month sentenced David DePape to 30 years in federal prison for the 2022 attack against Paul Pelosi.
A San Francisco jury on Friday found DePape also guilty of first-degree burglary, false imprisonment of an elder, threatening a family member of a public official, dissuading a witness to the charges and aggravated kidnapping.
DePape’s public defender Adam Lipson told the jury during closing arguments that DePape was guilty of three of the charges but that prosecutors had not presented evidence to convict him of threatening a family member of a public official and aggravated kidnapping.
Prosecutors added those two charges in late May, as DePape’s federal trial was wrapping up.
A federal jury convicted DePape of assaulting a federal official’s family member and attempting to kidnap a federal official. On May 28, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison during an unusual resentencing hearing that resulted from judicial error. DePape will likely be deported back to Canada after he completes his punishment.
Lipson earlier argued that the state trial represents double jeopardy following the federal conviction. Even though the criminal counts are not the same, the two cases stem from the same act, he told the judge.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman agreed and dismissed the state charges of attempted murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. Another judge upheld the decision on appeal.
Lipson focused his closing arguments on explaining to the jury that prosecutors did not prove DePape kidnapped Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, with the intent “to exact from another person money or something valuable,” which is integral to the charge.
Prosecutors said the valuable thing DePape wanted from the kidnapping was to create a video of Nancy Pelosi confessing to crimes he believed she had committed, prosecutors said.
Lipson argued the video didn’t exist and if it did, it wouldn’t have had any value.
“When he broke into the Pelosis’ home his intent was to confront and potentially hurt and assault Nancy Pelosi. That was his intent at that time, that has nothing to do with Mr. Pelosi,” he said.
In her rebuttal, Assistant District Attorney Phoebe Maffei pointed out DePape told a detective and testified in federal court that he planned to get a video of Nancy Pelosi confessing to what he believed to be crimes and post it on the internet.
“There is inherent value in a video of the Speaker of the House confessing to crimes in her own home,” Maffei said.
The attack on Paul Pelosi was captured on police body camera video just days before the 2022 midterm elections and shocked the political world. He suffered two head wounds including a skull fracture that was mended with plates and screws he will have for the rest of his life. His right arm and hand were also injured.
On Monday, Maffei told the jury DePape unleashed a “reign of terror” on Paul Pelosi before bludgeoning him with a hammer as part of a plan he put together over months.
“The plain facts of this case are terrifying by themselves without embellishment,” Maffei said. “David DePape broke into the home of an 82-year-old man while he slept, entered his bedroom, held him hostage with a hammer, threatened him, threatened his wife and attempted to kill him.”
DePape admitted during his federal trial testimony that he planned to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage, record his interrogation of her, and “break her kneecaps” if she did not admit to the lies he said she told about “Russiagate,” a reference to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Lipson told the jury during closing arguments that before the attack, DePape was living an isolated, lonely life and “went down the rabbit hole of propaganda and conspiracy theories.”
This week the judge expelled DePape’s former partner from the public gallery and the second floor of the San Francisco courthouse because the judge said she was trying to tamper with the jury.
On Monday and Tuesday, Gypsy Taub, a well-known activist in the Bay Area, handed out pieces of paper outside the courtroom with the address of a website she runs that promotes conspiracy theories. The cards were also found in a women’s bathroom near the courtroom where the website’s address was scrawled in marker on a wall.
“You have been trying to corruptly influence one or more jury members,” Dorfman said sternly before asking two bailiffs to escort Taub out of the courtroom.
DePape’s federal public defender said during his federal sentencing that DePape was first exposed to extreme beliefs by Taub, who has two children with DePape.
Taub met DePape in Hawaii when he was 20 years old and she was in her 30s and pregnant, DePape’s twin sister, Joanne Robinson, said in a letter to the federal judge seeking leniency.
Robinson wrote that Taub isolated DePape from his family and inflicted “extreme psychological damage” on her brother.
If rain keeps falling and the St. Croix River keeps rising, downtown Stillwater could be looking at a Top 10 flood event next week.
According to the National Weather Service, the river is forecast to hit flood stage – 687 feet – on Thursday, and reach 687.6 feet on June 28, but those numbers could be higher depending on how much rain the area receives through next week.
“At this point, the forecast is getting close to being a significant event,” said Stillwater Mayor Ted Kozlowski.
The river’s 10th highest flood – 687.63 feet – was on June 27, 2014; the record flood was 694.1 feet on April 18, 1965, according to NWS records.
“688 puts us in the top 10,” Kozlowski said. “What’s weird about flooding is it’s about inches. If it hits 694, we’re screwed, but if it’s 691, it’s fine. We’re always right on the edge of it, and we never know how much rain we’re going to get next.
“Right now, we’ve got a pretty good handle on it, but if we get three inches in the next 10 days, things are going to look very difficult downtown,” he said.
City workers Owen Weadge, left, and Charlie Anderson add sandbags to a flood wall in Lowell Park as the rain-swollen St. Croix River slowly overflows its banks in downtown Stillwater, Friday, June 21, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Barriers, sandbags, emergency meeting
City crews on Friday were installing jersey barriers, building a berm and putting sandbags in place on the north side of Lowell Park, the lowest side of the park, said Shawn Sanders, director of the city’s public works department.
Volunteer sandbaggers are not needed at this time, and likely won’t be needed if the river “stays at this elevation,” he said.
“I’m guessing the crest will be Sunday the 30th or Monday the 1st at this point,” Sanders said. “That could change if there is still precipitation they are accounting for.”
City officials on Friday met in an emergency meeting at Stillwater City Hall to declare the city in a state of emergency, but “it’s not as dramatic as it sounds,” Kozlowski said.
The declaration enables city staff to purchase equipment needed to fight the flood without council approval and enables them to apply for federal and state money, if needed, to help with clean-up, Kozlowski said.
Lowell Park, the park on the St. Croix River in downtown Stillwater, is closed, as are the city-owned parking lots near the park. Shortly after 1 p.m. Friday, Minnesota Department of Transportation crews closed the Stillwater Lift Bridge to walkers and bicyclists.
Workers with the Minnesota Department of Transportation move barricades into place as they close the Stillwater Lift Bridge as the rain-swollen St. Croix River slowly overflows its banks in downtown Stillwater, Friday, June 21, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Crews placed concrete barriers on the non-lift sections of the bridge to act as ballast and raised the lift span approximately 15 feet above the bridge deck to protect the bridge from the rising water. The ballast serves to prevent possible movement of the structure due to flood waters, MnDOT officials said.
Boats with a height less than 15 feet will still be allowed to pass beneath the bridge while the lift span is raised, officials said.
Once flood waters recede, the span will be lowered, ballast will be removed and pedestrian and bicycle traffic can again cross the St. Croix River on the Loop Trail, MnDOT officials said. MnDOT also will resume the regular lift bridge schedule for marine traffic.
Forecast
The flood forecast does not take future precipitation into account outside of the next 48 hours, said Brent Hewett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen.
“Obviously, any additional rainfall next week could cause the rises to increase in speed and flood stage,” Hewett said.
More rain is in the forecast, Hewett said, including another 1 to 2 inches in the Stillwater area this weekend. “The heaviest rainfall has shifted south, so that’s good news,” he said. “It now looks like it will fall over northern Iowa.”
The forecast calls for sun on Sunday, then another round of rainfall on Monday evening into Tuesday morning, according to Hewett.
“It does look like we could be drier Wednesday through Friday next week, and then more rain possibly the following weekend,” Hewett said.
Kozlowski said he’s sleeping with his bedroom window open to monitor any potential rainfall himself.
“Forecasting has been all over the place. Paul Huttner is my guy, but even he’s having a hard time,” he said, referring to the MPR News chief meteorologist and “Climate Cast” host.
St. Paul
The road leading to the St. Paul Yacht Club office at Harriet Island Regional Park in St. Paul is closed due to high water levels on Friday, June 21, 2024. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)
Due to large amounts of rainfall expected in the coming days, St. Paul plans to close Shepard and Warner Road for 3.2 miles between Eagle Parkway and U.S. Highway 61 beginning at 6 p.m. on Sunday. The one way street segments that normally connect to Shepard Road will be temporarily converted to two-way traffic open only to access the buildings.
Second Street from Kellogg Boulevard to Sibley Street will be closed and Sibley Street and Jackson Street between Kellogg Boulevard and Second Street will be closed to through traffic.
Bundles of traffic cones surrounding road closed signs are sprinkled down Shepard Road and Warner Road in St. Paul on Friday, June 21, 2024. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)
The current forecast shows the river reaching 20 feet by June 27 which puts the level at major flood stage, according to a spokesperson from the city of St. Paul’s Public Works.
As part of the city’s standard flood response, they are in contact with the property and business owners along the river who might be impacted. The city’s homeless response team also is working with any unsheltered individuals or those in encampments that might be in the areas prone to flooding.
Harriet Island Regional Park will be closed to vehicle traffic and Raspberry Island will close beginning on Sunday, including Wigington Pavilion and the public boat launch.
St. Paul encourages community members to visit stpaul.gov/flood to stay up to date on the latest information on closures.
Fort Snelling State Park
With the expectation that the rising Mississippi and Minnesota rivers will flood the roads and parking lots, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced Friday it will be closing Fort Snelling State Park beginning at 10 p.m. Saturday.
The DNR said the park will remain closed until flood waters “recede and the DNR is able to assess the conditions of facilities and amenities and address any flood-related cleanup and repairs.”
Fort Snelling is the only state park the DNR is currently closing for flooding, but it has already closed some campgrounds, trails, roads and amenities across the state.
Underground mine tours at Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park are also suspended due to water intrusion in the mine. Surface tours at the Soudan Mine will resume on Saturday. Bison tours at Blue Mounds State Park have been canceled for the weekend due to flooding in the park.
People check out the rising waters at Lowell Park as the rain-swollen St. Croix River slowly overflows its banks in downtown Stillwater, Friday, June 21, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Workers with the Minnesota Department of Transportation move barricades into place as they close the Stillwater Lift Bridge as the rain-swollen St. Croix River slowly overflows its banks in downtown Stillwater, Friday, June 21, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
City workers Owen Weadge, left, and Charlie Anderson add sandbags to a flood wall in Lowell Park as the rain-swollen St. Croix River slowly overflows its banks in downtown Stillwater, Friday, June 21, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
A Minnesota Department of Transportation boat is tied to a park bench in Lowell Park as the rain-swollen St. Croix River slowly overflows its banks in downtown Stillwater, Friday, June 21, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
City workers build a flood wall as pedestrians walk through in Lowell Park as the rain-swollen St. Croix River slowly overflows its banks in downtown Stillwater, Friday, June 21, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
People check out the rising waters at Lowell Park as the rain swollen St. Croix River slowly overflows its banks in downtown Stillwater, June 21, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Water pooling on a sidewalk in the West Park Grounds of Harriet Island Regional Park in St. Paul cuts walkers off from the path leading to Kelley’s Landing Public Water Access on Friday, June 21, 2024. The higher water levels are noticeable in this area as the flooding Mississippi River begins to cover some of the grass on the park grounds. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)
Harriet Island Park in St. Paul remains open on Friday, June 21, 2024, with some walking paths being blocked off due to high water levels from the Mississippi River. The park currently remains open but “Road Closed” signs sit at the entrances of the park in case of flooding. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)
Bundles of traffic cones surrounding road closed signs are sprinkled down Shepard Road and Warner Road in St. Paul on Friday, June 21, 2024. The roads that pass by the Mississippi River will be closing on Sunday, June 23, 2024, due to potential flooding. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)
The road leading to the St. Paul Yacht Club office at Harriet Island Regional Park in St. Paul is closed due to high water levels on Friday, June 21, 2024. The surrounding roads that lead to Harriet Island Regional Park have “Road Closed” signs sitting off to the side in the grass with sandbags in preparation for flooding from the Mississippi River. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)
Travelers can check in with MnDOT’s website at 511mn.org for current conditions.
MnDOT spokesperson Anne Meyer said in an email to the Pioneer Press on Friday that the website is a “great tool for travelers to see the areas of impact due to heavy rain and flooding statewide.”
“We do have several highways that are closed due to flooding or damage, and information may change over the weekend,” Meyer wrote. “511mn.org will have those updates and will be helpful to drivers to plan ahead before their travels.”
Minneapolis
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, announced Friday that it is closing Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam and Lock and Dam 1, in Minneapolis, to all recreational traffic until further notice due to high flows over 30,000 cubic feet per second.
Flows over this amount are considered unsafe, according to the Corps’ news release. Commercial traffic at these locks would be shut down at 40,000 cubic feet per second, the Corps said.
Northern Minnesota
Several small-town tourist meccas in northern Minnesota continued to be inundated by floodwaters after a deluge of rain earlier this week, prompting the closure of major roads and leaving a costly trail of damage.
On Friday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz traveled to St. Louis County, where people in one town paddled through flood-ridden streets in small boats and local officials estimated the floods had caused at least $50 million in damage and prompted the closure of more than 40 roads.
At a news conference in Biwabik, Walz said he expected a presidential disaster declaration might be imminent, but the damage hadn’t yet reached the necessary threshold. Walz encouraged people to keep track of damage, which could help the state secure federal assistance.
“Especially in areas that don’t have a high population density, we’re going to need help,” Walz said. “There’s resources there. The rebuilding will happen.”
This report includes information from the Associated Press.
As one of 16 teams that missed the NHL playoffs this spring, the Wild were part of the draft lottery that can randomly improve a team’s pick. But nothing happened for Minnesota, which will carry the No. 13 overall pick into Las Vegas for next weekend’s draft.
That’s OK, said Judd Brackett, the Wild’s director of amateur scouting since 2020-21.
“We’ve identified players that I think we’d be thrilled with,” he said during a teleconference Friday. “Now, we’ll see how it unfolds.”
That last part is big, of course, because as Brackett noted, “the draft will be dictated to us a bit.” The reality is, Brackett and his staff will be hoping that 12 other teams pass on at least one player they really like.
The Wild’s scouting department has been working on its own mock drafts, and even contacting other teams ahead of them in the draft to set the groundwork for a potential trade if the opportunity presented itself.
That, however, while not impossible, is unlikely, Brackett said.
“Typically, if you’ve got one of the top 10 picks, you’ve done your homework, too, and there’s a player that you’re happy with,” he said. “Especially when, as we mentioned earlier, there’s some depth in this draft in the first round.”
About the only thing draft watchers seem to agree on is that Boston University center Macklin Celebrini will be picked first by San Jose. Even an apparent can’t-miss scorer like Ivan Dimidov — who would seem to be the consensus No. 2 pick — could fall because teams aren’t confident he won’t stay in Russia for several more years.
Among those Top 10 players any team would be happy with: OHL wing Beckett Sennecke, defensemen Artyom Levshunov (Michigan State) Anton Silayev (Russia) and Zeev Buium (University of Denver), and WHL center Cayden Lindstrom.
The Wild have been collecting centers, and have some good young ones to show for it, from Marco Rossi — who had 21 goals and played in 82 games as a rookie last season — to CHL prospects Riley Heidt and Hunter Haight, who just won a Memorial Cup with Saginaw, and rookie Marat Khusnutdinov.
Khusnutdinov and rising left wing Liam Ohgren are expected to make the club out of camp this fall, and there are some promising defensemen playing for the AHL club in Des Moines, including Ryan O’Rourke, David Spacek, Carson Lambos and Daemon Hunt.
There doesn’t appear to be urgency to fast track a player, and Brackett said the team has not focused on a particular position in this draft, which appears particularly deep on the blue line. One of those prospects, Zayne Parekh, might be of particular interest because he had 107 points in 79 total games playing with Haight last season in Saginaw.
“Our list is going to be different than 31 other teams’ (lists),” Brackett said. “So, even at 13, there is a chance” to get a player higher than 13 on Minnesota’s chart.
“We’ve got to sit there and patiently wait, and sometimes we get impatient and start calling teams ahead of us to see if we can get up here,” Brackett said. “But unless you have a dance partner, it’s hard to get there.”
Briefly
Last year’s top pick, Rosemount forward Charlie Stramel, has transferred to Michigan State, where he will be reunited with his national team coach, after a difficult sophomore season at Wisconsin (3 goals, 8 points). “We’re excited that he has this opportunity,” Brackett said. “He now has to grab it and make the most of it. But we’re still very happy with Charlie. … We know the player that he can be, and we’re going to provide all the resources that we can.”
A PLEASANT FALL?
Three high-end prospects that, according to several mock drafts, could be available when the Wild use their No. 13 pick Friday in the first round of the 2024 NHL entry draft at the Sphere in Las Vegas:
Konsta Helenius, C, Finland — Helenius, 18, has been a member of Finland’s international junior teams and last season scored 16 goals among 40 points in 57 games (regular and postseason) total points for Jukurit in Finland’s top professional league.
Zayne Parekh, D, OHL — Parekh, 18, scored 33 goals in 51 regular-season games, up from 21 in his first junior season. He and Wild center prospect Hunter Haight won the CHL’s Memorial Cup with the Spirit this spring.
Tij Iginla, C, WHL — Another center, this one the son of former Calgary nemesis, and Hockey Hall of Famer, Jarome Iginla. Only 17, he already is 6 feet and 185 pounds and scored 56 goals among 99 points in 75 regular season and postseason games for Kelowna this season.
