Jeffrey Weinhaus, aka Bulletinman, the anti-government Internet blogger who was shot last month by Missouri Highway Patrol investigators, was released Thursday from a St. Louis hospital, The Missourian has learned.
Weinhaus, 45, currently is staying at his brother’s home in Jefferson County, Prosecuting Attorney Bob Parks said.
Parks said Weinhaus, who has been charged in a Franklin County warrant, will not be taken into custody until county officials confirm that his physical condition has stabilized and that he is fit for confinement in the Franklin County Jail.
“We’re still trying to get an evaluation of his physical and mental competency before we make a decision on the charges,” Parks told The Missourian.
Weinhaus, whose postings often were directed at law enforcement officers and judicial officials, had been charged in a Franklin County felony warrant with possession of a controlled substance (morphine) and tampering with a judicial officer, both felonies, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
Weinhaus was shot three times Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 11, when he allegedly pulled a pistol from a holster after failing to comply with a patrol order to get down on the ground.
Two weeks earlier, after Weinhaus allegedly made threats against officials in Crawford County on a YouTube video, the highway patrol Division of Drugs and Crime Control obtained a search warrant to seize his computers and went to the man’s home off Highway K, south of St. Clair.
Then on Sept. 11, troopers arranged to meet Weinhaus at the MFA Oil gas station on Highway K, south of Route 30, under the pretext of returning his computers and video equipment. But they actually were there to serve the Franklin County warrant.
When the man got out of his car, troopers told him he was under arrest. They noticed Weinhaus was wearing a holstered pistol and when they ordered him to take his hands away from the gun, he unstrapped the holster and began drawing the weapon, according to a patrol report. They then fired several times out of fear for their safety, the patrol said.
Parks said he has received highway patrol reports regarding the initial alleged threats and is still reviewing those.
“I have not gotten the final report on the shooting, or what investigators found on his computer,” Parks said.
He said the patrol’s internal investigation determined that the shooting was “justifiable.”
Weinhaus, who has described himself as a born-again Christian and both a political activist and a political prisoner, has been provoking politicians, judges and law enforcement officials in several eastern Missouri counties for years.
In a video post Sept. 9, he threatened to “occupy the courthouse” on Sept. 14 or Sept. 17. It did not specify which courthouse.
That post led the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to increase security measures at the courthouse there, and officials in Crawford County took extra security measures as well.
Weinhaus has claimed to have evidence of numerous murders committed by law enforcement officers in several counties.
Weinhaus filed as a candidate for coroner in Crawford County but later withdrew.
In 2000 he ran for sheriff in St. Francois County and in 2006 ran for alderman in the city of Piedmont.
He has been a defendant in a multitude of civil and criminal legal cases arising out of Jefferson, Franklin and a number of other Missouri counties.
Weinhaus wrote about many of these incidents and other alleged corruption in small newspapers he published, including The Provocateur and The Bulletin which later evolved into his website, bulletinman.com.
Before the shooting he blogged about the confiscation of his computers which he claimed were being held “hostage” by the Missouri Highway Patrol.
“If something should happen to me or my family I know that there are some REAL Americans who will deal with those who are waging war against the people. It is our goal to keep this peaceful but we the people are dealing with criminal thugs who don’t care about violence. Pray, people, pray,” he said in a post two days before he was shot.
