Redby, Minn., man charged with murder in shooting of Red Lake Nation police officer

When police kicked in his door Tuesday morning while attempting to serve a warrant, David Donnell Jr. was armed and ready.

Moments later, Red Lake Police Officer Ryan Bialke lay dying on Donnell's front porch after Donnell exchanged gunfire with officers and fled into the nearby woods, according to a federal criminal complaint.

Now, the 28-year-old Redby, Minn., man sits in the Beltrami County Jail facing a federal murder charge.

Donnell, a member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, was charged Wednesday in U.S. District Court with second-degree murder and four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon in the death of Bialke, a 37-year-old father of four who had served on the Red Lake police force since 2014.

According to the complaint, Red Lake police were called to the house on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northwestern Minnesota on a welfare check after Donnell's girlfriend told a family member he was suicidal and asked the relative to call police. Five officers went to his home near Redby, a community of about 1,300 people on the south shore of Lower Red Lake, some 250 miles northwest of the Twin Cities.

While en route to Donnell's house, officers learned that he had an active tribal warrant against him, the complaint said. When they arrived at his home, they found him standing on the porch.

Donnell went into the house and wouldn't come out. Officers talked to him through a window but couldn't persuade him to leave the home.

Donnell continued to shoot at the other officers, and one returned fire, the complaint said. Donnell then fled into the woods.

Soon after, a neighbor who lives two houses west of Donnell called police and told them Donnell was at her home, according to the complaint. She said she had taken a rifle from him. Police arrested Donnell there without further incident.

The complaint stated that during his arrest, Donnell told officers that he was sorry and admitted shooting at them.

Police obtained a search warrant and recovered shell casings inside Donnell's home; bullet holes were found in the front of the house and in a Red Lake squad car, the complaint said.

Donnell told investigators that he knew there was a warrant issued for him, the complaint said, and that he didn't want to be arrested. He also admitted that he knew he was shooting at police officers.

"Ryan had a big heart and he was always laughing and smiling, and he was a great dad to our three children," Andrea Bialke, his ex-wife, told the Star Tribune on Tuesday. "He just loved helping everybody.

"If there was someone on the side of the road that needed help with their vehicle, he would stop and help. He was just that kind of guy.

"He would babysit his younger cousins," she said. "He just wanted the best for everybody."

Ryan Bialke graduated from Rasmussen College and moved to Bemidji when he landed the policing job in Red Lake. He was one of 38 sworn law enforcement officers serving Red Lake and was not a member of the tribe.

Bialke is the second Red Lake officer to die in the line of duty in the past two years. In July 2019, officer Shannon "Opie" Barron died after suffering a medical emergency while responding to a call.