Family tried to get him help

The family of the man charged with shooting a police officer said Thursday they tried to get him help for his mental illnesses since he was a child.

Daniel Holmgren, 33, is charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a White Bear Lake officer.

Holmgren was admitted to psychiatric units 10 times between 2008 and 2022, according to a court record. But he could not seem to receive the sustained treatment he needed, said his mother, Vicki Galcia.

Galcia said she doesn’t know how Holmgren obtained the gun he’s accused of using to shoot the officer.

“My heart is broken — I’m praying that that man is OK,” Galcia said of the officer.

Holmgren was most recently civilly committed as mentally ill last January, was released from the hospital in March and remained under court jurisdiction — which included being ordered to take medication, said his older sister, Crystal Dunaski.

But he was not taking it, she said.

“They just put them on paper and release them out into the community without any follow through,” Dunaski said.

Holmgren has been diagnosed as having bipolar disorder with symptoms of mania, antisocial personality disorder and intermittent explosive disorder, according to a court record.

Dunaski said when Holmgren was being released from the hospital, she asked that he not be sent to his mother’s apartment but be placed in a group home or “a facility somewhere where they could actually help him become really stable, not just temporarily stable,” she said. “I was told, ‘There’s nowhere for him to go’ because he’s clearly uncooperative, as with most people with mental illness who don’t think there’s an issue.”

The family stayed in contact with Holmgren’s case worker since his release from the hospital, Dunaski said.

“I’ve tried to make sure others are safe and that he’s safe and to reach out desperately for help all of his life with no success and no help,” Galcia said. “I’ve told (his case worker), ‘He’s going to be dangerous, come and pick him up.’ To be told, ‘What do you want me to do? There’s nowhere to put him. There’s other people out here (who need help).’”