A longtime police officer and veteran says Democratic House candidate Lucia Wroblewski attempted to “destroy” her career with an internal affairs complaint that was unfounded and full of false allegations.
Sgt. Tina Kill dedicated her life to public service, working as a law enforcement officer for 27 years and serving in the United States military for 37 years. Having joined the Army Reserves as a teenager, Kill achieved the rank of sergeant major before she retired.
Now, the law enforcement officer and veteran is speaking out about one of the most shocking and difficult periods of her career.
“Lucia’s vicious, outrageous personal attack on my character was shocking, especially coming from a former coworker and more so a ‘sister in blue,’ whom I had marched beside in Pride parades, forged strong bonds of trust and loyalty with, and was part of my police family,” Sgt. Kill told Alpha News.
The post
Wroblewski is an Afton City Council member and retired St. Paul police officer who is currently running to represent House District 41A in the southeast metro area. Sgt. Kill told Alpha News that Wroblewski attempted to smear her as a “fascist sympathizer.”
Kill said she learned in February of 2021 that she was the subject of an internal affairs complaint filed by Wroblewski. According to Kill, the complaint centered on a social media post she wrote in the days following the events that took place in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.
“People can see with their own lying eyes what happened, but the media and dem government will manufacture a new reality where everyone involved was a NEO-NAZI super soldier for Trump,” wrote Kill regarding Jan. 6. “This is a very dangerous road, if Biden and the media want to treat everyone that disagree with them as terrorists they’ve just started the second American civil war.”
To her shock, Kill discovered that Wroblewski had filed an internal affairs complaint regarding the remark.
Kill, who said she’s not a Republican and considers herself a libertarian-minded Democrat, told Alpha News that the comment was one of thousands in a social media thread about what happened on Jan. 6. Her comment, she said, was intended to convey that labeling an entire group of people as terrorists could lead to civil war, not that she condones or desires such an outcome.
Additionally, Kill said the single comment did not capture the entire context of the conversation. Just prior to posting that remark, Kill said, she posted a separate comment about how people should not paint everyone in a group with a broad brush whether they are Trump supporters or Black Lives Matter (BLM) supporters.
The complaint
Wroblewski personally wrote to former St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell on Jan. 13, 2021, to express her outrage with the post, according to documents obtained by Alpha News. In her message, Wroblewski appeared to question whether anyone who doesn’t support the Democratic Party could be trusted to serve in the St. Paul Police Department, and she weaponized Kill’s training as a Russian linguist against her. However, Kill used that training to monitor Russian radio transmissions during the Cold War, according to media reports on her retirement.
“Hitler’s Nazi movement along with the Storm troopers and the political machinations of the time appear to serve as Trump’s political playbook. And Chief I cannot see how Tina Kill with her clear affinity for the Pro Trump mob, her antipathy for the President elect and democratic party and clear bias against them (Dems are the majority of the electorate in the country, state, and city she works for as you know) can work as a Sgt on the SPPD,” Wroblewski wrote, according to the documents from the internal affairs investigation that Kill provided to Alpha News.
Wroblewski then urged Axtell to ensure that this “police trained, military trained, Russian language expert, and clear Pro Trumpist, isn’t a threat to our political leaders or anyone else.”
“As a police officer/Senior Sgt who served in, as I recall, your own Chief’s office at one point, Sgt Kill has training (both military and Police) and specialized intel knowledge and inside information and as you know there are real threats being made to not only our federal government leaders but our state leaders as well. We need to clean house in both the military and law enforcement and make sure that wolves aren’t protecting the flock,” she said.
Wroblewski, who was already retired, proceeded to file a formal internal affairs complaint against Kill. In her communications with the SPPD, she described Kill as a “fascist sympathizer who supports a fascist President and movement” and accused her of “violating her police oath and her oath to uphold the Constitution and laws” by authoring the social media post in question.
“Any moderately literate student of WW2 history can see the similarities in Hitler’s nazi fascism movement + Trump’s MAGA, proud boys, white nationalist movement. Sgt. Kill’s level of denial of this threat troubles me. Law enforcement officers who support Trump + his clear defiance of the Rule of Law, his corruption + criminality, + his fascist actions + beliefs trouble me,” Wroblewski wrote in a five-page, handwritten complaint.
Documents Sgt. Kill provided to Alpha News indicate that she responded during the course of the internal affairs investigation by writing, “My post was simply an expression of my personal opinion, in my personal capacity in a private group. My comments were in response to an individual, and part of a longer thread between many individuals in a private group.
“I did not call for or agree with any violence, nor would I ever,” wrote Sgt. Kill. “The post was merely in response to what happened at the United States Capitol and what I thought could occur in the future.”
The St. Paul police officer also said “It’s clear that Ms. Wroblewski has some extreme political views,” and that for Wroblewski to “take a Facebook post so far out of context and make such callous and vicious assumptions about my character has caused me to have some serious concerns about the safety of my family, as this seems like a very personal attack.
“I know that my character, previous work performance, and history of bringing people from all walks of life together, especially those that have felt ignored or as if their views or experiences didn’t matter, much more accurately depict my character than two sentences from a Facebook post taken completely out of context,” added Sgt. Kill.
In the end, the documents provided to Alpha News show that Sgt. Kill was exonerated, the complaint resulted in no discipline, and the case was closed.
But the ordeal caused significant emotional distress for Kill, who was recognized in 2017 for her outreach efforts geared toward Somali women. “I treat people with dignity and respect,” Kill told Alpha News. “[Wroblewski’s] baseless attacks caused me tremendous stress, anxiety, and fear for my and my children’s safety.”
For instance, had the complaint been sustained, Kill could have lost her security clearance, which would have effectively ended her military career, she explained. Additionally, Kill told Alpha News that any internal affairs complaint, whether it is sustained or unfounded, will follow a police officer for the rest of their career.
A representative for Wroblewski’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story after asking for and being granted additional time to respond.
Alpha News also reached out to the St. Paul Police Department regarding the internal affairs investigation. While the department said it could not provide answers on several questions, it did state that an internal affairs investigation, with an ID number that matched documents provided by Sgt. Kill, was conducted and “resulted in no discipline.”
“I am eternally grateful to the Saint Paul Patrol Officer who took my Harassment Report, the Internal Affairs Investigator who deemed the complaint unfounded, and especially former Police Chief Todd Axtell for my exoneration,” Sgt. Kill said.
“In my police career, it’s one of the most traumatic things to happen.”
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
