AlexHolm

The Star Tribune reported Sunday that a dorm director and teacher at Faribault prep school shot himself to death on campus on Friday night.
Len Jones, 34, was alone in his faculty apartment was he committed suicide, police said.
Several 7th through 9th grade boys heard the shot, and faculty rushed them away from the scene as they tried to help Jones.
Jones was described as well-liked by the students, and had come to Faribault from South Carolina six years ago.
He had recently become dorm director, and had expressed interest in taking on more administrative duties.
Spokesman for the school, Amy Wolf, said that no one had seen the suicide coming, but some knew he was having marital issues.
Jones described the event as the most tragic event that the school had ever seen.
A prayer service was scheduled for Sunday at 11:00 a.m.

Posted by holm0629 at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Saturday that police caught a man who robbed a restaurant because he stole a "million-dollar-bill."
The man , Henry Downs Jr., broke into the El Norteno restaurant on Thursday and demanded the money from the cash register.
The employee said the man only stole some change and a fake million-dollar-bill that had been left by a co-worker as a joke.
Police found the man a few blocks away from the restaurant after tracking his footprints in the snow.
He was standing at a bus stop wearing all black and had a razor blade and the fake million-dollar-bill in his pockets.
His bail is now set for 10,000 dollars.

Posted by holm0629 at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Thursday that a plea deal for a Hopkins bank robber was rescinded because a victim of the robbery objected to the terms.
A former Hopkins basketball player, Anthony DiLoreto, alledgedly drove his 16-year-old friend to a bank to rob it and waited in his car.
DiLoreto got scared and drove back to his Minetonka home, leaving his friend at the bank.
The 16-year-old told police that the gun he used to rob the bank belonged to DiLoretto.
The plea deal offerred to DiLoretto would have made him guilty of misdemeanor charges and serve local jail time, but would not have been felony charges.
The bank's manager protested the agreement because of the fact that he would face no felony charges.
DiLoretto is scheduled to appear in court in February.

Posted by holm0629 at 4:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Thursday that a Robbinsdale driver is accused of driving a trooper 40 to 50 feet on Highway 169.
Derek Alan Thompson, 36, has been charged with drunk driving and fleeing police.
He has been convicted of drunk driving six times before and has been charged with numerous other crimes.
The trooper pulled over because Thompson had the hood up of his jeep and appeared to be having trouble.
When Thompson was able to fix it, the trooper noticed that he appeared to be drunk.
Thompson took a breath test which showed that he was over two times the legal limit.
Then he reportedly punched the trooper and took off in his jeep, dragging the trooper down the highway.
He led officers on a chase but was caught shortly after.
Jean Mulvey, executive director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving Minnesota, said that they are trying to impose stricter laws against drunk driving because people do not seem to take it seriously.

Posted by holm0629 at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported that a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed at his home around 12:25 a.m. Sunday.
Paramedics tried to revive him but the victim, Jacob MacKenzie, died on the scene.
His mother, Michelle Olson, said that he waited up for her every weeknight to spend time with her.
19-year-old Alfredo Gutierrez-Gonzales has been identified by police as a suspect, but is not considered a threat to the public.
It is unclear what happened to cause the shooting, but police do not believe their was an argument prior to it.
McKenzie was the second Twin Cities teen to die from a gunshot this weekend.
Police reported that they found a gun believed to be connected to McKenzie's shooting near his home.
Olson's daughter said she rushed home after her mother told her the news, but McKenzie was gone before she got there.
Olson said her son was a quiet teen that liked to hang out with his family.
She described him as an "all around good kid."
"Everybody liked him," said his school's associate director, Jody Nelson.
She also described him as very hard working.

Posted by holm0629 at 3:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Saturday that a runaway tractor rolled over a man and killed him in Denmark Township on Friday around 10 a.m.
Eugene J. Becker, of Hastings, was helping a friend remove a tree stump from the yard.
The tractor was running while it was chained to the tree stump when one man took an ax to the tree roots.
The tractor started to roll back and Becker went after it.
Erin Pace, the homeowner, said she looked out her window right as the tractor ran over him, and that he died shortly after she came outside.
The sheriff's office said that the death appeared to be an accident.

Posted by holm0629 at 3:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Monday that a brother and sister killed their brother in Southwestern, Minn.
Police believe that Elizabeth Hawes and Andrew Hawes killed their brother, Edwin, and then burned his body in a fire.
Police arrived on the scene on a rural farm, where there was an illegal fire, and found the suspects as well as Andrew's girlfriend, who is also charged with second degree murder.
They allegedly talked about killing Edwin in front of Elizabeth's husband.
Edwin was shot in the chest with a crossbow, beaten with a baseball bat, and run over before his body was burned.
Their was blood on the outside of Edwin's home and under his car.
The siblings had a feud for several years before the killing, according to a close friend of Edwin.
The suspects could serve up to 40 years in jail if convicted.
They said that Edwin had been embezzling money from the family business.

Posted by holm0629 at 3:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Monday that a 7-year-old boy from Ramsey County found meth and $85 in his candy bag.
The boy and his sister were going through the bag and found the drugs and money.
The boy's parents, Lars and Shelly Brosdahl, did not release the boy's name.
They turned the stash over to police, who said it is likely an isolated incident.
The boy said that a "bigger kid" ran by and asked the boy if he wanted some candy, and dropped the drugs in his bag.
Police suspect that it may have been a 24-year-old man that was arrested on Halloween night, who will likely face an assault charge.
But, police handed out fliers to make sure no other children got any drugs in their bags.
The Brosdahls said that though they had not talked to their kids about drugs before, they had to after the incident.
They also said that their son was excited about the money, and was planning on sharing it with his sister.
He will be able to claim the money if no one else does in 90 days.

Posted by holm0629 at 3:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Friday that a 19-year-old woman was stabbed at a St. Paul library after being asked what gang she belonged to.
A librarian asked the three attackers and the woman to leave the library before the attack occurred.
When the woman told her attackers she was not in a gang, the attackers left but later returned to the scene when they struck her and stabbed her 13 times.
She suffered a punctured lung, and asked police not to release her name.
Two of the attackers, brothers Meng Vang, 19, and Kou Vang, 18, of St. Paul, are in custody, but the third 19-year-old accomplice is not.
Police were called to respond to the attack around 4:15 p.m.
The suspects fled the scene after the attack, but left their car behind, which gave police a lead as to who they were.
In separate interviews, the brothers admitted to being in a fight but denied having a weapon.

Posted by holm0629 at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Saturday that the Pioneer Press has been the latest recipient of a suspicious package labeled "anthrax."
The package was received around 6 p.m. Saturday.
The package contained a CD with a photo of Gen. Colin Powell labeled "Anthrax Shock and Awe Terror" and also a package labeled "Anthrax Biohazard."
The material in the package will be sent to the FBI for further investigation.
Other news outlets around the country such as the Star Tribune have also received similar packages.
An investigation determined that the powder sent in the package contained sugar.
A man in California was arrested last week for making similar threats.
Police said no arrests have been made in connection with the Pioneer Press incident.

Posted by holm0629 at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Friday that six teens attacked a bus driver, causing him to crash into a traffic pole in the Minneapolis Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.
He was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center and treated for bruising around his eye.
The driver was trying to call police after the teens refused to behave on the bus.
This is the 13th reported assault this year. Ten assaults were reported physical violence, and two reported passengers spitting on drivers.
Michelle Sommers, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, said this incident shows why security needs to be improved.
She said that this could not only injure the driver, but also the passengers and people on the sidewalk as well.
All six attackers fled the scene, but police later apprehended two, who are now in a juvenile detention center expected to be charged with felony assault.
This attack follows an attack in July, that left a bus driver hospitalized for a few days.
Police will investigate the attack using the bus's video camera system, but it is an older system that may produce grainy images.

Posted by holm0629 at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Pioneer Press reported Friday that a man who was charged with murder hit a man and then crashed his SUV into a highway barrier to hide the damage.
The suspect, Moises Aguilar Nieves, 36, said he did it to protect his girlfriend from a man she dated previously.
Another driver passed by the scene and called police.
Police arrived at the scene around 5 a.m. to find a man, Sergio Escalona, lying dead in the street, and appeared to have been hit by a car.
A 23-year-old woman approached officers and told them she and Escalona had previously dated, and that he had called her after returning from Mexico.
She said Escalona came up to her driver's side door, and that a black SUV pinned him against her car.
She said she blacked out and went up to her room, and later discussed the incident with her father.
She said she talked to Nieves for about 20 minutes after her shift ended at 3 a.m. and that they went their seperate ways.
Police found that they worked at the same place and both of their shifts ended at 3 a.m, and that they were in a relationship.
Initially, Nieves said he left work and hit the highway barrier, then went to the hospital and was home by 8 a.m.
After being questioned by police, Nieves confessed that he hit Escalona with his SUV because he was concerned for his girlfriend because Escalona had forced her to have sex with him before.
Nieves said he only meant to scare Escalona, and not to kill him.

Posted by holm0629 at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Saturday that child-abuse charges have been brought against a father and stepmom accused of abusing their 6-year-old son.
The boy came to stay with his father, Jonathan Lee Carey, for the summer and when his mother picked him up in August, he had multiple injuries.
He had a burned tongue, missing teeth, and bruises all over his body.
The boy told police that his father had hit him in the bathtub and tied him up with a belt. He also said that his stepmom and grandmother abused him as well, but no charges have been filed against the grandmother.
Shoe strings were also found tied to a bed frame and were consistent with marks on the boy's wrists.
Marijuana, packaging, and a scale were also found in the home. Mariesa Carey, the boy's stepmom, originally said it was hers, but later said that it was Jonathan Carey's.
Mariesa said that she and her husband were separated because he cheated on her, and she denied any knowledge that the boy had been abused.

Posted by holm0629 at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Saturday that a Minneapolis man was compensated for a bus driver driving past him and not picking him up.
Ken Stano, who had made this trip before, waited on August 29th at the Nicollet Avenue bus station to catch the 46 bus and get off at the light-rail station to get to the airport.
The bus arrived on schedule but the bus driver just drove past him, even though Stano tried to flag him down.
Stano had to rush home to get his car and drive to the airport, but missed his flight anyway.
He called the Metro Transit from the airport, and also typed up a copy of his complaint.
When he returned to Minneapolis, he had a parking bill for $76.
He wrote a letter asking Metro Transit to compensate him for this, and won his case.
The company conducted an investigation into the incident and found that the bus driver had been confused regarding who he was supposed to pick up on his route, because there was construction that caused a detour.

Posted by holm0629 at 9:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Sunday that an 18-year-old high school student was shot and killed in Minneapolis Saturday.
Police found the victim, Jesse Mikkelson, behind a residence in Minneapolis in an alley around 7 p.m.
Mikkelson was reportedly attending a birthday party for another teenager when the shooting occurred.
He approached a vehicle that pulled up in the alley behind the home.
The vehicle could possibly be a white Dodge Intrepid, said police, because witnesses saw it parked in the alley just before the shooting.
So far there is no information about the suspects.
Mikkelson's family said that he was not involved in a gang, and that it must have been a random shooting.

Posted by holm0629 at 3:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Monday that a simple argument was the cause of a shooting that occurred on September 22.
Police said that a juvenile, Ramadan Abdi Shiekh Osman, has been charged with the killing of Ahmednur Ali .
Ali had been volunteering at a community center that day, but witnesses said they saw him arguing with a group of young Somalis earlier in the day.
Witnesses said that Osman and Ali argued, then Osman hit Ali in the head with his gun before shooting him in the head and killing him.
Osman is 16 years old, but prosecutors hope he will be tried as an adult.
Osman may have been involved with a gang, police said.
Osman also lied to police about his whereabouts during the time of the shooting. He said he was with a relative, who later denied that.
Witnesses did not come forward immediately because they feared for their safety.
Several other shootings in the area may be connected to this one, police said.

Posted by holm0629 at 3:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Friday that a 31-year-old Inver Grove Heights woman bled to death Tuesday after a sexual assault.
Police reported that Michael Sontoya allegedly assaulted Gabriele Romo in his home, which resulted in her death, then called police to report she was unconscious.
Sontoya pleaded not guilty on Thursday and was held at bail of $250,000.
According to the report, Romo and Smith were drinking at a bar in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood before the alleged assault took place.
Sontoya said that they came back to his home and had consensual sex, and there was blood all over the room when the finished.
When police arrived, some blood had been cleaned off the victim, but there was still blood in her naval and in her fingernails.
Police said that Romo died of internal injuries due to a sexual assault.
There was no evidence of a previous romantic relationship between Romo and Sontoya.

Posted by holm0629 at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported Friday that carbon monoxide fumes from a gas generator killed three people in Minneapolis Thursday.
Harold Barnett, one of the victims, had a gas generator running in his basement, which his friend, James Morgan, warned him not to do.
Morgan said that Barnett had moved the generator in his basement because he didn't want the noise from the garage to bother the neighbors.
Morgan also said that Barnett should have known that it was not safe to run the generator in the basement, but probably didn't think it would matter as long as it were only for a couple of hours.
Barnett's 14-year-old son and his close friend also died.
Morgan found the three victims after breaking down the door once he suspected something was wrong.
CenterPoint Energy spokesperson, Becca Virden, said that running the generator in the basement would have been comparable to running a car in the basement.
No carbon monoxide detectors were initially found in the house.
Morgan said that Barnett was having trouble paying his electric bill recently, therefore was using the generator.
Morgan described Barnett as a good father who always took care of his son.

Posted by holm0629 at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported that a 6-year-old girl was not allowed on several roller coasters at Valleyfair on August 15 due to the park's inconsistencies.
Autumn Larsen was looking forward to the trip to Valleyfair all year, according to her family.
The Larsens knew that Autumn was not quite 48 inches, which is the height requirement to be allowed on several rides. But, the family read online that if the child was over 48 inches with shoes on, the child would be allowed on the ride.
So the family went to Valleyfair, but when they got there, the workers at the entrance denied Autumn the wristband she needed to be allowed on the rides.
Despite this, Autumn was still able to ride many of the rides without the wristband. But, sometimes she would not be allowed.
The Larsens said that this was due to inconsistencies of the park.
The family later sent a letter complaining to Valleyfair about the incident.
Valleyfair responded by sending them a refund for Autumn's ticket.
Rachel Onken, promotions and communications manager for Valleyfair, said that workers at the park can use their own judgement to determine if a child's shoes are too thick.
She also said that children may shrink throughout the day, which may put them under the 48-inch mark by the end of the day.
Dave Larsen, Autumn's father, said that he does not think that there were any safety concerns with Autumn riding the rides.

Posted by holm0629 at 3:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported that a 51-year-old woman on a bicycle died after being hit by an SUV Saturday.
The accident occurred at the intersection of Summit Avenue and Snelling, in St. Paul.
Police said Virginia Heurerbowar was wearing a helmet when the accident occurred.
Heurerbowar was riding east, as was the man who hit her at the intersection where the roads merge together.
Police said the man told them he stopped at the stop sign, accelerated, and then she was in front of him.
There were no independent witnesses, and there have not been and tickets issued to the driver, but the accident is being investigated.
Heurerbowar died around 3 p.m. at regions hospital, She had suffered severe head injuries from the accident.
She lived with her husband on Laurel Avenue, which is close to where the accident occurred.

Posted by holm0629 at 3:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported on Thursday that a suspect was charged with the murder of a 19-year-old man outside of a Minneapolis strip club.
Jerrell Michael Brown, 21, was charged with the murder of Darius Ormond Miller.
The shooting occurred on August 30th around 3 a.m. outside of a Minneapolis club called Whispers Nightclub.
The victim, Miller, was being beaten by a group of men when Brown allegedly walked up and shot Miller in the head, and he died on the sidewalk.
"[The suspect] walks up like a wimp and fires a round in the guy," said Minneapolis Police spokesman, Sgt. Jesse Garcia. "This was a pretty cowardly act."
Brown was later identified by witnesses and a surveillance tape.
Police also found that the gun used to commit the murder was also used in a previous incident in which Brown was involved.

Posted by holm0629 at 4:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported on Friday that the U.S. government will use nearly $18 million to cleanup Minneapolis neighborhoods that were contaminated with arsenic.
The arsenic was left behind by a pesticide facilty, the CMC Heartland Lite Yard pesticide plant, which is no longer in operation.
It is believed that during the plant's operation between 1938 and 1968, material from a pesticide containing arsenic was blown into nearby neighborhoods,"according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Informational meetings will be held to see how much arsenic is contained in the soil of these neighborhoods.
The Environmental Protection Agency will clean up this soil and restore landscaping. They expect to have cleaned up 200 yards that have the most contamination by the end of this year, and will begin working on other yards that have potential health risks after that.
The cleanup requires that homeowners give their permission before any work is done on their yards and will not have to pay anything for it.

Posted by holm0629 at 4:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported that an expecting father from of Coon Rapids died after a night of partying where he mixed alcohol with pain medications.
The party was supposed to be a celebration of his son's expected birth the next day.
Eric J. Simco, the man who dies, was engaged, and his fiancee said that they were just getting ready to buy a house for them and their son.
His son was born the next day, and his fiancee expressed her sadness the he was never able to hold his son.
His fiancee said the the pain killers came from a car accident that he suffered a few years ago, and that she knew he was taking more than he should. She also said that he was planning to stop taking the drugs and drinking after his son was born.
He was also taking an anti-anxiety medication.
Simco's sisters describe him as a "boisterous guy who sported a tattoo, and eyebrow rings and a pierced lip."
His fiancee also said that he was looking forward to being a father.

Posted by holm0629 at 4:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Star Tribune reported that a vacant North Minneapolis fourplex exploded Sunday morning because of a natural gas leak caused by copper theft.
No injuries were reported, but a neighbor reported that she heard people moving around the building around 2 a.m.
Rene Hatchett, a neighbor, smelled gas when she woke up in the morning.
Her downstairs neighbor, Charmaine Brown, also smelled the gas and tried to call Minneapolis 311 but did not have the 50 cents to make the call.
Brown said she smelled gas to the point that it made her nauseous, but did not call 911 because she did not think that it was an emergency.
Hatchett said she was cooking when the vacant house exploded and shattered her windows. She said she thought it was an earthquake.
Residents are supposed to make sure the gas is shut off when the leave for a long period of time, according to Minneapolis police, and this house had been put on the market two months ago.

Posted by holm0629 at 4:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)