SLP Man Charged with Threatening Woman with Shotgun

A St. Louis Park man has been charged with assault and making terroristic threats after police say he pointed a loaded shotgun at a woman and threatened to kill her on Christmas Eve.

Anthony John Bellotti, 53, faces felony charges of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, and making terroristic threats, which has a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Bellotti, who remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $100,000 bond, also faces lesser charges of violating a domestic abuse no-contact order, domestic assault and disorderly conduct.

According to the complaint, filed by St. Louis Park Police Officer Jonathan Riegert, police were called to a home in the 3100 block of Jersey Avenue South on the evening of Dec. 24 when a woman reported that Bellotti had violated a protection order.

The woman told police that she had allowed Bellotti into the home earlier in the evening, but they began to argue over her car keys, and she left the house and reported his behavior to police.

She also told officers that on Dec. 21, Bellotti had been in her home, with her consent, and another argument ensued. She said she told Bellotti to leave the house or she would call police; he replied, “[Expletive] you, I’m not going anywhere,” and told her to go ahead and call the police.

Bellotti went into a bedroom, unzipped a gun case and then reappeared at the bottom of the stairs, holding a 20-gauge shotgun, the woman told police. He told her, “By the time police get here, you’ll be dead,” then chambered a round into the shotgun and pointed it at her, according to Riegert’s account.

Bellotti also told the woman, “I’ll kill you where you stand,” according to the complaint. She told police she believed that Bellotti would follow through on the threats.

On Jan. 4, the woman came back to the police department and reported that Bellotti had assaulted her again, pulling her down a flight of stairs by her ankles, grabbing her by the hair and slamming her head into a wall. She said he told her that if she ever tried to leave, “I will hunt you down like a dog and bury you alive so you can try to claw your way out,” according to Riegert’s account.

Bellotti’s next court appearance is scheduled Feb. 2 in Hennepin County District Court.