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Search Warrant: Gagne Involved In Previous Retirement Home Assaults

Posted: Mar 10th 2009 By: CMBurnham

Minnesota wrestling legend Verne Gagne had assaulted fellow residents at the Bloomington retirement home where he lived at least twice in five months before the altercation that led to the death of a 97-year-old man, according to a search warrant.

The search warrant, filed last week and unsealed Tuesday, is the first public document that acknowledges Gagne's involvement in the death of Helmut Gutmann. Gutmann died Feb. 14 from complications of a broken hip after an what the warrant calls an "unprovoked attack" during which Gutmann was "grabbed, shaken and thrown to the ground" by Gagne on Jan. 26 at the memory-loss unit of Friendship Village, where both men lived. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide.

The warrant requests entrance to the area within Friendship Village where the assault occurred so that police may take photographs to display where Gagne, Gutmann and witnesses were during the incident. It also seeks prior reports made about incidents involving Gagne.

In an affidavit by Detective Ed Hanson, Bloomington police received a Vulnerable Adult Maltreatment Report stating that Gutmann was taken to Fairview Southdale Hospital after the altercation. A copy of the report was sent to the state Department of Health, Office of Health Facility Complaints. The Department of Health notified Bloomington police that there would be no investigation into the incident because Friendship Village had discharged Gagne. Police also did not look into the incident.

"There was no ongoing criminal investigation due to the nature of the complaint and the steps that had been taken to prevent further incidents regarding Mr. Gagne," according to the affidavit, which describes the assaults as "what seems to be a pattern of conduct."

Police were notified Jan. 17 that Gutmann died, and opened an active investigation into his death. Records were located within the Bloomington Police Department indicating that there were "at least" two additional incidents within the past five months "in which Vern(e) Gagne assaulted a resident of Friendship Village." The incidents were handled internally by staff at Friendship Village without police investigation, the affidavit said.

Gagne, 82, has not been charged in the death.

Tags: Verne Gagne