A two-hour long procession of law enforcement vehicles passes a giant U.S. flag waving from Star Fire Department ladder truck in April. The escort was for Ada County Sheriff’s Deputy Tobin Bolter, who was killed in the line of duty.
Darin Oswald
doswald@idahostatesman.com
Hours after a 65-year-old man had shot and killed Ada County Sheriff’s Deputy Tobin Bolter, he fired again at officers from the Boise Police Department, striking one of their ballistic shields.
Minutes of both body-camera and drone footage released Friday by the Boise Police Department provided new insight into the fatal police shooting of Dennis Mulqueen. Officers were searching for Mulqueen that late April night after law enforcement said he shot 27-year-old Bolter during a traffic stop.
“The loss of Deputy Tobin Bolter in the line of duty was a tragedy that will have long and lasting impacts on both our law enforcement community and the entire Treasure Valley community,” Boise Police Chief Chris Dennison said in a news release. “Our hearts go out to Deputy Bolter’s family, friends, and colleagues as we continue to release information about this incredibly difficult time.”
Star Mayor Trevor Chadwick, right, and Police Chief Zach Hessing observe a moment of silence during a candlelight vigil honoring Ada County Sheriff’s Deputy Tobin Bolter, who was killed in the line of duty. Darin Oswald doswald@idahostatesman.com
He added that a “thorough investigation” determined that the officers involved in Mulqueen’s shooting “acted in accordance with the law and in protection of their community.” As a part of that Critical Incident Task Force investigation, the shooting was reviewed by Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall, who wrote in a letter that it was “abundantly clear” that Detective Joshua Sontag didn’t commit any crime when he fatally shot Mulqueen.
Even if Mulqueen had not fired at officers first, Marshall wrote, police would have been justified in using deadly force.
“I find that all officers involved exercised an amazing level of restraint and professionalism in this situation,” Marshall wrote in the Oct. 1 letter. “Mr. Mulqueen had just murdered one of their colleagues, and yet officers involved gave him many chances to surrender in a great deal of time before they were finally forced to advance on his position.”
The city’s police oversight office issued a separate report Friday agreeing that the department’s tactical decisions were “sound and appropriate.” The report pointed to the tactical unit’s “considerable efforts” to de-escalate the situation, noting that officers issued more than 30 announcements and commands to Mulqueen in an attempt to detain him.
“While we cannot know with certainty the state of Mr. Mulqueen’s mind or motives taking extreme, life-ending action against a law enforcement officer, given the totality of his actions, it is certainly conceivable that his desire to not return to jail was a significant motive,” the report said.
Minutes of both body-camera and drone footage released Friday by the Boise Police Department provided new insight into the fatal police shooting of Dennis Mulqueen. Officers were searching for Mulqueen that late April night after law enforcement said he shot 27-year-old Bolter following a traffic stop. Boise Police Department Provided
Footage details shooting of Mulqueen
With a tarp over his head and dressed in a plaid shirt and jeans, Mulqueen sat near a fence on the backside of an apartment complex on South Jackson Street just before midnight on April 20, drone footage released by the Boise Police Department showed. Mulqueen can be seen holding a firearm, and when the drone got close to him, he pointed the gun at it before it sped away.
Bolter had been shot roughly three hours earlier near the area of Overland Road and South Raymond Street on the Boise Bench, less than 2 miles away from where Mulqueen was hiding. Police found Mulqueen roughly 40 minutes after the shooting and attempted to persuade him to surrender.
Marshall wrote in the letter that officers “showed a great deal of restraint” and didn’t confront Mulqueen for over an hour, attempting to get him to surrender by giving him instructions through a loudspeaker.
Minutes later, police said, Mulqueen fired a shot and then attempted — but failed — to enter into an apartment unit. That’s when the Boise Police Department’s Special Operations Unit moved in because of the threat that he’d put nearby residents at risk, according to the agency.
Dennis Mulqueen shot and killed Ada County Sheriff’s Deputy Tobin Bolter after the deputy pulled him over for a traffic stop near the area of West Overland Road and South Raymond Street on the Boise Bench, according to authorities. Mulqueen was later killed by a Boise police officer after he shot at officers. Boise Police Department Provided
A drone showed Mulqueen hiding behind a patio partition. He fired at police as they walked down the row of apartment units and approached him, according to the footage. A bullet struck one of the officer’s ballistic shields.
Sontag fired five shots, with two of the bullets striking Mulqueen, according to the letter and footage. Then several officers began yelling at him to “get on the ground” and “show me your hands”
One officer’s voice cut through overlapping voices, telling everybody to “calm down” and saying that “the suspect is down,” according to body-cam footage.
Mulqueen was given medical aid and taken to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, where he died in the emergency room just after 12:30 a.m. April 21, according to the coroner.
No other officers were injured in the shootings that night, according to police. Bolter, who joined the Sheriff’s Office in January from the Meridian Police Department, died later that morning after Mulqueen. His friends and family remembered him as a man of faith who had always wanted to work in law enforcement.
“We packed a lifetime of memories into the time that God gave us,” his wife, Abbey Bolter, said at his memorial service.
Ada County Sheriff's Office
This story was originally published November 22, 2024 at 4:38 PM.
Alex Brizee covers criminal justice for the Idaho Statesman. A Miami native and a University of Idaho graduate, she has lived all over the United States. Go Vandals! In her free time, she loves pad Thai, cuddling with her dog and strong coffee.Support my work with a digital subscription
