Several people who watched as Deputy Todd Waldron pulled his handgun and shot Tyler Heilman in the chest the afternoon of July 20 have told their story to the media, describing what happened with painful details.

But it was the witnesses who haven’t spoken publicly who swayed a grand jury after three days of testimony, said Andrew Johnson, assistant Anoka County attorney.

The jurors, which heard the first of 21 witnesses Wednesday in Le Center, deliberated for about two hours Friday evening before deciding against indicting Waldron.

They were considering whether Waldron should be charged with second-degree intentional murder or second-degree unintentional murder for killing Heilman, 24, a stay-at-home father from St. Peter.

Waldron was working in plain clothes the afternoon of July 20 when he confronted Heilman about driving erratically in Kasota and asked him for his driver’s license. There was a scuffle outside a Kasota apartment complex, Waldron pulled his gun and Heilman was lying dead on the ground, wearing only his swim trunks, moments later.

Heilman’s friends, who had been in the car with him, said there was a fight and Heilman was winning, but he was backing away when Waldron pulled his gun. They said no one knew Waldron was a Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Department investigator working undercover. They said Waldron

didn’t identify himself until after he shot.

There is more to the story, Johnson said. That information is coming from at least one witness who hasn’t talked to the media.

“There’s one witness who happened to be driving by and he saw it,” Johnson said. “His story is very similar to what the officer said and it contradicts what the witnesses at the scene said.”

Johnson said he couldn’t go into details Saturday about Waldron’s description, nor the witness’ description, of what happened.

“We will have more on that very soon,” Johnson said. “It won’t be next week. We’re thinking about a press conference in a couple weeks.”

As they sat in their Kasota living room Saturday afternoon, members of the Manderfield family weren’t swaying on their version of what happened to Heilman.

Jolene Manderfield and her children, Brooke and Eric, live in the apartment building where Heilman was killed. They were in the parking lot and watched everything.

Scott Manderfield, Brooke and Eric’s father, heard the shots and helped Jolene give Heilman CPR as Heilman bled from his chest. Heilman was wearing only the swim suit and was still wet from swimming, he said.

“When I ran outside, (Waldron) had his gun out,” Scott Manderfield said. “I asked who he was and he said he was a cop. He told me to help him flip Tyler over, then he said, ‘What have I done?’ He was running around frantic.”