Bail is set at one million dollars for 33-year-old Dustin Bilderback, accused of multiple counts of attempted murder for allegedly shooting and wounding two South Saint Paul police officers outside a group home Thursday afternoon. Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom says he anticipates motions from the defense and a likely court ruling next week on whether Bilderback is competent to stand trial. Backstrom says his office is “definitely gonna pursue this to the fullest extent of the law. This was a clear attempt to kill police officers in our view — at least that’s what we’re alleging with these charges that were filed today (Fri) — and we’re gonna be pursuing this case aggressively.”
According to the criminal complaint, officers were talking with Bilderback’s case worker on whether he should be put on a 72-hour mental health hold when Bilderback went to his car, pulled out a shotgun and shot the officer who had followed him in the shoulder — then wounded another officer in the leg. Two officers returned fire but didn’t hit Bilderback. He was ordered to drop the weapon, did so, and was taken into custody.
More in this interview with MNN’s Bill Werner: