Federal prosecutors have filed two criminal charges against a 21-year-old Washington state woman in connection with the investigation into Monday’s fatal shooting of a border patrol agent during a traffic stop in Coventry.
Court paperwork unsealed Friday morning in support of the charges against Teresa Youngblut also provides new details into the circumstances surrounding the traffic stop and shooting that killed 44-year-old David C. Maland, the border patrol agent. The filing was first reported by WCAX.
According to the criminal complaint, Youngblut faces two federal charges:
- Intentionally using a deadly weapon, a firearm, while forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, or interfering with Border Patrol Agents while they engaged in or on account of the performance of their official duties;
- Discharging a firearm during and in relation to the assault with a deadly weapon.
Youngblut has not been directly charged in the fatal shooting of Maland.
It is unclear when Youngblut, who was also shot and wounded in the incident, would appear in federal court on the charges. She was taken to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, for treatment for her injuries following the incident, according to the new court filings.
Youngblut, who the charging documents stated had a Washington state driver’s license, was driving the 2015 Toyota Prius Monday afternoon when it was stopped by federal authorities on Interstate 91 in Coventry. A passenger, identified in the court filings as Felix Baukholt, was also shot and killed in the incident. (His last name has been spelled differently elsewhere).
The passenger had previously been identified by federal authorities only as a German national who had been in the United States on a current visa, although Friday’s court filing said a database showed the visa “appeared” to have expired when the traffic stop occurred. There was no explanation for the conflicting information.
Youngblut and Baukholt, according to the newly filed court documents, had been on the radar of federal law enforcement in the Northeast Kingdom for about a week prior to the traffic stop and shooting.
An employee of a hotel in Lyndonville had contacted law enforcement after a man and woman checked into the hotel more than a week ago, court filings stated.
The hotel employee reported being concerned about the pair, “including that they appeared to be dressed in all-black tactical style clothing with protective equipment,” with Youngblut carrying an “apparent firearm” in an “exposed-carry holster,” according to the charging documents.
Investigators with Vermont State Police and the federal Homeland Security Investigations tried to initiate a “consensual conversation” with Baukholt and Youngblut, “but they declined to have an extended conversation,” the court documents stated.
The pair, the filing stated, claimed they were in the area looking to buy property. Following the contact with law enforcement, the pair checked out of the Lyndonville hotel on the afternoon of Jan. 14, court documents stated.
On Sunday, Jan. 19, a day before the traffic stop, the two were spotted walking in downtown Newport “in similar tactical dress,” the filing said.
On Monday, at about 3 p.m., a border patrol agent pulled over the blue Toyota Prius that Youngblut and Baukholt were in on Interstate 91 to “conduct an immigration inspection,” court documents stated.
Baukholt, according to the court filing, “appeared to have an expired visa in a Department of Homeland Security database.”
“Multiple uniformed Border Patrol Agents were present at the stop in three USBP vehicles with emergency lights illuminated,” the court document stated.
Between 3 and 3:15 p.m., the filing stated, agents reported gunshots at the scene. Border patrol agents involved in the incident later reported that Baukholt and Youngblut had firearms and the Youngblut “drew and fired” a handgun toward at least one border patrol agent “without warning when outside the driver’s side” of the vehicle, according to the filing.
“Baukholt then attempted to draw a firearm,” the filing stated. At least one border patrol agent then fired at Youngblut and Baukholt with his service revolver, the filing stated, not naming the agent.
This story will be updated.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Federal prosecutors file charges in probe of fatal shooting of border patrol agent in Vermont.