Teresa Youngblut
By
Michael Donoghue, Vermont News First
Teresa Youngblut, 21, of Washington State was identified this morning as the second suspect in the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent in Orleans County this week.
Teresa Consuelo Youngblut’s Washington voter registration
shows that she is a Seattle resident who was born in 2003. The document says she has no known political party affiliation. She is a female registered to vote in King County, Washington, the document said.
Youngblut is charged with intentional use of a deadly weapon while forcibly assaulting a federal law enforcement and with discharging a firearm during an assault with deadly weapon, records show.
She is named in a criminal complaint filed by the FBI on Wednesday and ordered unsealed this morning in U.S. District Court in Burlington. An 8-page affidavit outlines the case.
Youngblut has been held at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. with gunshot wounds since Monday, but could be in federal court as early as this afternoon.
Vermont News First initially reported the double homicide on Monday shortly after the 3:15 p.m. shootout on Interstate 91 in Coventry about 9 miles south of the U.S.-Canada border.
Her companion shooter, a German National, Felix Bauckholt was shot dead at the scene by the Border Patrol.
Meanwhile the body of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David “Chris” Maland, 44, of Newport was headed from Burlington to Albany, N.Y. for a flight home to Minnesota. He was a K-9 handler with his partner Cora.
Maland had been a Border Patrol Agent for about 10 years and was engaged to be married.
The two suspects were in a blue 2015 Toyota Prius hatchback with North Carolina registration plates when pulled over by Maland. By the time the shooting began two other Border Patrol vehicles were at the scene.
A court-ordered search of the car uncovered various pieces of tactical gear, including a ballistic helmet, night-vision-goggle monocular, a tactical belt with holster and a magazine loaded with cartridges, the FBI said.
Investigators also found two full-face respirators, 48 rounds of .380-caliber jacketed hollow point ammunition and a package of shooting range targets, including some that were used.
Also seized were two-way radios, about a dozen electronic devices and multiple removable electronic storage devices, various identification documents, utility, lease, travel and lodging information for multiple states and a journal maintained by Youngblut, records show.
The FBI confirmed today earlier reports by Vermont News First (VNF) that the two shooting suspects had been under surveillance since about Tuesday Jan. 14 by Homeland Security Agents. It included monitoring the couple at the Walmart in Newport from about 11:30 until 2:35 p.m. on Monday Jan. 20 — the day of the double homicide.
A hotel clerk in Lyndonville reported to authorities on Jan. 14 a man and woman had checked in dressed in all-black tactical style clothing with protective equipment, the FBI said.
The woman, later identified as Youngblut, was carrying an apparent firearm in an exposed carry holster, the FBI said.
Investigators with Vermont State Police and Homeland Security Investigations attempted to initiate a conversation with Youngblut and Bauckholt, but they declined to have an extended chat, the FBI said.
The couple checked out of the motel on Jan. 14 and investigators later spotted them in similar tactical dress on Sunday Jan. 19 walking in downtown Newport with Youngblut still carrying a firearm, FBI Agent Leah Bogdanowicz wrote in the criminal complaint.
Youngblut was seen carrying an apparent firearm in an exposed carry holster. Vermont State Police and Homeland Security Investigations attempted to have a conversation with Youngblut and Bukholt, but they declined, the FBI said.
Youngblut was driving and Baukholt, who was the registered owner of the car was the lone passenger. Both were armed with firearms.
By the time the shooting began three Border Patrol vehicles with emergency lights activated were at the scene.
One agent reported that Youngblut was near the driver’s door when she drew and fired a handgun toward at least one uniformed Border Patrol Agent without warning, court records show.
At least one Border Patrol agent reported Baukholt attempted to draw a firearm, but an agent fired at the two suspects, records show.
The Vermont State Police Bomb Squad, along with bomb techs from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives used remote technology — including a robot to inspect and render the Prius safe, court records note.
Seven spent 9-mm casings believed fired by one or more of the Border Patrol Agents were collected as evidence by the Vermont State Police Crime Scene Search Team.
A Glock 40-caliber pistol, believed to belong to one of the suspects, two spent casings and two 40-caliber magazines were seized on he ground near Youngblut, records show.
A .380 caliber pistol also believed to be owned by the suspects was confiscated near Baukholt, they note.
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Maland was killed during the wild shootout on Monday afternoon during a traffic stop for a southbound car on I-91 in Coventry.
Maland was treated at the scene for a gunshot wound to the neck and was rushed to North Country Hospital in Newport where he was pronounced dead about 4 p.m.
Baukholt was dead at the scene.
It remains unclear if the Border Patrol had been fully advised about the two suspects and the nature case when U.S. Homeland Security asked to have the car stopped. Authorities told VNF the tactic is known in law enforcement as a “Whisper Stop” when full disclosure is not made to an agency requested to make a stop.
Authorities also have said Baukholt had overstayed his temporary work Visa. It also was unclear how he would have obtained a firearm as a non-resident.
Homeland Security had been investigating the couple and a third suspect in the days leading up to the shooting. It was unknown if the Border Patrol had been briefed on the case before they were asked to pull over the vehicle.
Some of the trio had been staying for several days at the Newport City Inn and Suites on East Main Street. Other reports indicate they were earlier staying in the St. Johnsbury area.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lasher is the lead prosecutor in the case and the Office of the Federal Defender has been assigned initially to her case.
