Nicholas Lawrence's News Blog

The body of a missing Minneapolis man was found at the Greenhaven Golf Course in Anoka on Saturday, reported WCCO.

Police recieved a call from an employee at the golf course reporting a dead body floating in the pond between the 10th and 11th holes, according to the Star Tribune.

Jelani Brinson, 24, disappeared after leaving a friend's Anoka home on April 17 and was identified as the dead man in the pond by police, according to the Star Tribune.

The police would not say if there was any foul play, according to the Star Tribune. The Anoka County Sheriff would not say how Brinson died, but an autopsy is scheduled for later this week, according to WCCO.

Brinson of North Minneapolis was the father of a 9-month-old girl and a family spokesperson said the family had nothing to say to the media right now, reported WCCO.

Posted by lawre200 at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That message: I'm drunk and school is almost out. Also: we'll take on these coppers with rocks and beer bottles.

After an alcohol fueled riot broke out during the Spring Jam festival in Dinkytown, police used force to break it up and arrested seven men, putting the riot to an end early Sunday morning, according to Fox9 news.

On the 1300 block of Seventh Street Southeast, students began gathering around 8 p.m. Saturday night and were eventually subject to foam bullets and tear gas after the gathering turned into a full-fledged riot with street fires and students on top of cars and even attempting to tip some of them over, reported MPR.

When the police arrived they were subject to rocks and beer bottles flung from the staggering and stumbling crowd of around 500, reported MPR.

The Minnesota Daily has posted student submitted photos from the Saturday night riot showing students jumping over a street fire victoriously while others formed a giant ring around the flames, hands in the air and cheering like it were the superbowl and their friend just brought the nachos, this obviously was before the police arrived.

Police flooded houses with tear gas as well as the streets; they also fired foam bullets into the crowd, hitting some students.

"The pain was unbelievable," one man who was hit in the ankle told WCCO.

"This was mayhem created by drunk college students," said Minneapolis Police Sgt. Jesse Garcia to WCCO, who orded the paddywagon, nearly 50 police dressed in full riot gear and the many deterents to be fired to fight off the young and drunken force that was Spring Jam 2009.

Posted by lawre200 at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A woman was killed and her husband was injured, Saturday, when a man driving a stolen vehicle collided with their vehicle in an attempt to out run police on Interstate 35-E, reported WCCO.

Shoua Vang, 48, of St. Paul and her husband, Zong Xiong, were exiting at Larpenteur Avenue on I 35-E when a stolen vehicle, driven by Tito Fonzio Campbell, 33, of Roseville, crashed into them, reported WCCO.

Vang was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital while her husband remained in serious condition Saturday evening, reported The Star Tribune.

Roseville police recieved a report in the 600 block of West Highway 36 of a stolen car at around 7 p.m. reported The Star Tribune.

Campbell escaped the police officer in pursuit on Highway 36, where he was going speeds around 90 mph, where he drove in a wreckless manner, using the right shoulder as part of the highway, reported the Star Tribune.

After Campbell was arrested, police discovered a 8-year-old boy in the stolen car. His relationship to the Campbell is unknown at the time and he suffered non-life threatening injuries, reported the Star Tribune.

Campbell is being held by police on a charge of vehicular criminal homicide, according to WCCO.

Posted by lawre200 at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Within 12 hours of the altercation outside of a Hopkin's White Castle resulted in a man being shot and killed, Sunday, a woman was shot and killed in a Maple Grove McDonald's parking lot and the suspect was found dead a short time after along Interstate 694, reported The Associated Press.

The McDonald's shooting occured at around 2 p.m. Sunday. Police arrived to find a woman, described to be in her 20's, dead in the parking lot, according to The Associated Press.

Police later found the suspect along the side of Interstate 694 not far away where he died of an apparent self-inflicted gun shot wound, according to the Star Tribune.

Police are still searching for the two suspects who got into an argument with the 24-year-old victim outside of the Hopkin's White Castle on Blake Road North, according to Kare11 .

This victim's name has also not yet been released.

Posted by lawre200 at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A combined $740,000 was awarded to five black police officers who were treated unfairly due to their race by police cheif, according to The Associated Press.

The officers sued the city of Minneapolis in 2007 with the claim "they were denied advancement and unfairly disciplined because of their race" by their new police chief Tim Dolan, reported the Associated Press. They were replaced by white cronies, according to the Associated Press.

The policemen: Sgt. Charlie Adams, Lt. Lee Edwards, Sgt. Dennis Hamilton, Lt. Don Harris and Lt. Medaria Arradondo each have more than 18 years experience, reported The Associated Press.

Lt. Adams will recieve more than $187,000 along with Lt. Harris and Lt. Anrrandondo; Lt. Lee Edwards will get 137,000 and Sgt. Lee Hamilton will recieve $40,000, according to MPR.

"We're pleased that this case is settled. Litigation, especially litigation with current employees, can be hard on everyone," Minneapolis City Attorney Jim Moore told MPR. "We want to put this case behind us, and move forward with the important business of the Minneapolis Police Department."

Posted by lawre200 at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Three Minneapolis money transfer businesses were raided Wednesday by Federal Agents that help with Somali community relations with their family and friends in Africa, reported the Associated Press.

The agents sought records of financial transactions to several African and Middle East countries but would not say if the raids had to do with the missing Somali men from the Twin Cities area, according to the Star Tribune.

Federal agents raided the Qaran Express and Aaran Financial, in the Karmel Mall, and North American Money Transfer Inc. at the Village Market Mall, at E. 24th Street and Chicago Avenue S.

The Star Tribune reported the raids could be part of the effort since 9/11 to track funding to overseas terrorist networks.

"We've been through this before," Omar Jamal told the Star Tribune, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul. "What happened today is the beginning of a long story, so we don't want the community to panic."

Posted by lawre200 at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The important 19th-century painting by Ary Scheffer was found in a Minnesota church closet and now will be bathed in the public eye once more, reported The Associated Press.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 2007 was approached by the Rev. Steven Olson of Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Dassel, Minn. about restoring a painting, according to the Associated Press.

The painting was credited as Christus Consolator, a pre-eminent Romantic piece out of Paris during the first half of the 19th century, painted by the Dutch-born but French-trained artist Ary Scheffer, reported The Associated Press.

Scheffer's work was widely circulated in America and Europe in 1851, but the original piece remained in a closet of a small town Minnesota church underneath a pile of art reproductions, reported The Associated Press.

The museum's painting curator used old documents and exhibition records and speculated the painting traveled from Paris to Boston and then to Dassel, where the church aquired it from a minister's widow in 1931, reported the Star Tribune.

"Today, when our society is so ridden with conflict and doubt, it is good to see Christ’s consolation to the homeless and downtrodden being rediscovered,” Olson said this week while at the MIA, according to a Herald Wire Report.

Posted by lawre200 at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The parents of the teen shot in 2006 by police filed suit against the city accusing the cops of planting a gun on their son; the trial begins May 1 in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, reported the Pioneer Press.

Fon Lee,19, was shot eight times by an Minneapolis police officer after he fled from authorities with what one officer believed to be a gun. A gun was found on the scene but it was discovered that the gun could not have been in the possession of Lee because it was already in police possession after it was used in a buglary, according to the Pioneer Press.

During a news conference, Police Chief Tim Dolan said the Russian-made Baikal .380 semiautomatic pistol was found next to Lee. According to the police report that was filed six days after the shooting, the gun was stolen in a 2004 North Side burglary. According to an older police report this gun was in a police property room; this led to a new police report being filed and changing the gun to a Belgian-made FNH pistol (Star Tribune).

The officer who shot Lee also reviewed police reports, witness statements and other documents; this raises questions to the officer's credibility, reported the Pioneer Press.

"The evidence supports a claim of planting a gun, especially since irrefutable video evidence and eyewitness accounts establish Fong Lee did not have a gun at the time he was killed," Richard Hechter, a lawyer representing Fong Lee's family, wrote in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court on Monday (Pioneer Press).

Part of the chase was captured on a school surveillance camera in North Minneapolis and no gun was visible, according to the Pioneer Press.

Police officer Jason Andersen was cleared by a grand jury and was backed up by his superiors for his actions at during the original case and reported Lee was waving a gun at him, reported the Pioneer Press.

City Attorney Susan Segal has not responded to the Star Tribune, but sent a statement to city leaders saying "the city will show the Police Department acted lawfully in this matter" (Star Tribune).

Posted by lawre200 at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A 42-year-old Big Lake man shot and killed his girlfriend's son then raced down Interstate 94 with a hostage and killed himself after a standoff with authorities early Saturday morning, reported WCCO.

Peter Tek, 42, made a final phone call to his son before he put an end to the pursuit himself.

"I said, 'Dad are you serious?' He starts crying and then I start crying," Phath Bauer, Tek's 18 year-old son told WCCO. "I said, 'Dad, what are you going to do?' He said, 'I'm going to kill myself.' And I was like, 'Dad, no!'"

According to the Sherburne County Sheriff's Department Tek had shot and killed Savang Sath earlier that morning and then fled holding his girlfriend hostage, reported WCCO.

Deputies chased Tek westbound on Interstate 94 until stop sticks were used to stop the car, St. Cloud police negotiated with him for two hours, according to WCCO.

Authorities closed down a 2-mile strip on the freeway for about two hours while traffic was detoured, reported the Star Tribune.

The acts that took place Saturday morning left the families in shock; they believed something very serious had to have happened to push him over the edge, according to WCCO.

Tek had recently lost his job of 20 years but the families still had no idea he would be pushed this far, reported WCCO.

Posted by lawre200 at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An 81-year old man was vicously robbed on Sunday; a Brooklyn Park teenager faces the charges, reported WCCO.

Christopher Lamor Johnson, 16, was charged with first-degree assault and burglary after he allegedly beat and attempted to steal money from Norman Arneson in his Brooklyn Center home, reported WCCO.

Arneson was admitted to North Memorial Medical Center immediatley and recieved emergency brain surgery on Sunday and was due to undergo another brain surgery on Thursday, reported the Star Tribune.

"He's just not our dad right now," Vickie Trainor, one of Arneson's three daughters, told the Star Tribune. "That day, we never would have recognized him because his face was so beat up."

A neighbor called 911 after she saw the two teens force themselves into Arneson's home on the 5700 block of Northport Drive, reported the Star Tribune.

Police arrested Johnson after they found him, with the assistance of a K-9 unit, in the victims garage, hiding under his car, according to WCCO.

Johnson told officials he committed the burglary because he needed money, according to KSTP TV.

Posted by lawre200 at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Three District judges' votes are now the only ones that matter in the Minnesota Senate race, reported the Pioneer Press Saturday.

After the two month recount, the public waits for what could be weeks for the decison from the three judges who have presided for the complete election trial, reported the Pioneer Press. The judges are Stearns County's Elizabeth Hayden, Pennington County's Kurt Marben and Hennepin County's Denise Reilly.

The case involves 2,000 exhibits, 35 days of arguments, more than 130 witnesses testimonies and decisions on election law cases from 1880 to the present, reported the Pioneer Press.

Norm Coleman's team asked judges to bend the rules and use "common sense' for the disputed ballots, reported the Star Tribune.

Al Franken, who led by 225 votes in the original recount, has taken the position that Coleman failed to prove election problems caused his defeat, and therefore, he should be senator, reported the Star Tribune.

Posted by lawre200 at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Young Somali men in Minneapolis have dissapeared in the past year and a half and FBI are linking the cases with a Somali terrorist group, reported NPR.

According to the FBI, the young men who have been dissapearing might have been recruited by the terrorist group, al-Shabab, reported NPR.

The FBI supoened at least 10 people from the Minneapolis Somali community to appear in front of a grand jury and they have interviewed at least 50 people, reported FOX News.

"We do worry that there is a potential that these individuals could be indoctrinated by al-Qaida while they are in Somalia and then return to the United States with the intention to launch attacks," deputy director of the National Counterterrrorism Center, Andrew Liepman, told a Senate committee Wednesday (NPR).

Police have looked into leads of two local mosques for the infiltration and recruitment of the community, reported NPR.

Posted by lawre200 at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Police worked throughout Friday evening using industrial steamers to remove an unidentified body from a small pond on a Ham Lake golf course, reported the Star Tribune.

The body was found by a groundskeeper at the Majestic Oak Golf Course Friday afternoon in a small pond about two feet deep, reported the Associated Press.

Lt. Paul Sommer of the Anoka County Sheriff's Office said he believed the body had to have been there since before the first November freeze, reported the Star Tribune.

Police told the Star Tribune it could take up to two days for the body to unthaw for an autopsy and identification. They identified him as a man based on his clothes.

Posted by lawre200 at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A woman was left by her husband with a fatal stab wound to her heart and lung Thursday in front of Regions Hospital, reported the Pioneer Press.

Prosecuters filed a criminal complaint to the Ramsey County District Court Friday, charging Whitney Tanee Kizart, 21, with second-degree murder without intent for the stabbing of Jennifer Linnear, 26, reported the Pioneer Press.

According to Robert Linnear, 24, Kizart stabbed his wife after they confronted her outside her home. Jennifer Linnear allegedly had contracted herpes from her husband who had contracted them from Kizart reported the Pioneer Press.

Kizart told police that Jennifer Linnear had pushed her and so she stabbed her in the chest. Police found a bent knife and broken handle outside Kizart's apartment in the 600 block of Oakdale Avenue in St. Paul, reported the Star Tribune.

Kizart was being held in the Ramsey County jail, according to the Star Tribune.

Posted by lawre200 at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A shooting at the Southdale Center in Edina Friday has left two teenagers in the hospital, reported Sun Newspapers.

One male victim, 18, was shot in the stomach while the other, also male, 15, suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, the former underwent surgery late Friday at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis reported the Star Tribune.

"The information we have is that this is probably gang-related," Police Chief Mike Siitari said to Sun Newspapers.

It started as an altercation between two groups of hispanic men. Then one of the men pulled out a .45 caliber handgun and shot it into the other group, reported Sun Newspapers.

Police told the Star Tribune that most calls that came in from Southdale were for shoplifting or property crimes.

"This is the only shooting I'm aware of out here. And I've been here 30 years, so this is very strange," Siitari told Sun Newspapers.

Posted by lawre200 at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Lakeville man who admitted to killing his best friend with a baseball bat was acquitted of all charges by a Dakota County jury on Saturday after 30 hours of deliberation, reported the Pioneer Press.

Charlie Otto Reynolds, 32, was accused of killing his friend, Joshua Skare, last March after an altercation at Reynold's home led Reynolds to use a bat in self-defense. He was found not guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, which, if he was convicted, could have landed him life in prison without possibility of parole, reported the Pioneer Press.

He was also found not guilty of alternate charges of second-degree murder with intent to kill, second-degree murder without intent to kill while committing a first-degree assault, and second-degree murder without intent to kill while committing a second-degree assault reported the Star Tribune.

"They obviously struggled with the facts and circumstances surrounding the death of Joshua Skare," Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said in a statement released by the Star Tribune. "Ultimately, the jury concluded that the state had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that self-defense was not a factor in this case."

Reynolds said in his testimony that Skare was drunk and becoming overly aggressive. He was walking around his house naked and attempting to enter the rooms of Reynold's daughter and Reynold's room claiming he could sleep wherever he wanted reported the Star Tribune.

Reynolds escorted him downstairs but the third time Skare pushed him into a banister near the stairs. After this Reynolds became fearful for his and his families lives, so he went downstairs, retrieved a baseball bat and struck Skare with it, reported the Star Tribune. He then called 911, reported the Pioneer Press.

Posted by lawre200 at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The shooting on Chicago Avenue South that killed one person and wounded another in 1998 has been revisited and Minneapolis police believe they have solved the case, reported the Pioneer Press Saturday.

Second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder charges were filed against Jaymichael Jeffrey Hargrove, 28, this past week for the homocide near Powderhorn Park back in October 1998, reported the Pioneer Press.

Police reported when the homocide occured that the suspect opened fire on a porch at 3104 Chicago Ave. S. and killed Julius Gaston, 21, and wounded a woman.

Hargrove was originally charged with the murder that October but charges were dropped for witness related issues, reported the Star Tribune.

Hargrove went to prison in 2004 for three unrelated felonies and four misdemeanors at the Rush City state penitentiary reported the Pioneer Press.

A witness came forward police said Friday which led to the new developments in the case reported the Pioneer Press.

Posted by lawre200 at 8:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Of the 396 people arrested on Sept. 4, the last night of the RNC, St. Paul attorney's office announced Friday they would be dropping the charges of 323 of those cases, reported the Pioneer Press.

The arrests on the last night of the RNC have yet to lead to one charge, and 323 cases have been dropped, but around 20 cases could still lead to charges, St. Paul City Attorney John Choi said Friday to the Star Tribune.

Overall, 670 convention-related arrests have led to 104 charges being filed, while 442 cases have been dropped, reported the Star Tribune.

Unlawful assembly and presence at an unlawful assembly, third-degree riot, false information to police, obstructing legal process and others were the misdemeanor and gross-misdemeanor cases included in the RNC protest charges, reported the Star Tribune.

A spokeman for the St. Paul police, Peter Panos, told the Pioneer Press the department did not object to the dropped cases.

"We made sure that the RNC went smooth, that we had minimal damage to property, and we had very few people injured at all. Our part is over once we make an arrest and write a report," Panos told the Pioneer Press. "We don't get frustrated with that."

Posted by lawre200 at 7:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The alleged details of the attack on June 15, 2007 on a man and his girlfriend were revealed in the continuing court case Friday, reported the Star Tribune.

The man, now 32, positively identified Gari Lamont Stewart, 28, of Robbinsdale as his attacker as well did his girlfriend. He took the stand this past Tuesday as the first witness in the case, reported the Pioneer Press.

The man told a disturbing story of waking up with Stewart's face 5 inches from his and then his struggle to survive and save his girlfriend.

He was tied up with a blow dryer cord and wrapped in a shower curtain and forced under the bed. When the man later escaped from under the bed and attempted to save his girlfriend he was stabbed several times.

Stewart is accused with stabbing a man, raping a woman, setting the apartment on fire and abducting the woman reported the Star Tribune.

Posted by lawre200 at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

About 125 residents were forced out of a St. Anthony apartment complex in an early Friday morning fire, no injuries occured reported the Pioneer Press.

Firefighters from six cities showed up at the Autumn Woods apartments at 2560 Kenzie Terrace N.E. to battle the flames after an alarm company alerted authorities at 7:10 a.m. reported the Pioneer Press.

No injuries were sustained except a minor one when a firefighter slipped on ice. "It's a good feeling for us," St. Anthony Fire Chief John Malenick told the Star Tribune. "It worked the way it's supposed to."

Cost are expected to reach as much as $1 million dollars, and it is unclear when the residents will be able to return to their homes.

Lang Nelson Associates, who owns and manages the building, is helping residents find homes, as well The American Red Cross is helping three families with food, money and other emergency services while many other residents are staying with relatives reported the Pioneer Press.

Posted by lawre200 at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An Eagan elementary school principal is facing disciplinary action after allegedly making a 6-year-old child unclog a toilet bare handed, reported the Pioneer Press.

Doug Steele, principal of Rahn Elementary School, was placed on paid leave by the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage school district after the incident on Dec. 12.

On Thursday the school board decided to place Steele under discipline after an investigation following the incident. Steele has 20 days to report any grievance he has with the report filed by the school board reported the Pioneer Press.

The boy's parents, Elijah and Shannon Hannah, filed the complaint against Steele after their son told them Steele made him remove reminants from the toilet reported the Star Tribune.

The boy reportedly had to use paper towels since toilet paper was not available leading to the clog.

Steele has his supporters though, parents and volunteers at the school are in disbelief that the principal for 12 years would act so brash.

"I hope he fights it," Howlader told the Pioneer Press. "This will follow him around."

Posted by lawre200 at 2:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Friday, two former Ramsey County sheriffs were sentenced to three years in a federal prison for what they said to be a practical joke, reported the Star Tribune.

Mark Naylon and Timothy Rehak took $6,000 of planted money by the FBI, during an integrity test on the officers.

The FBI started these tests after 2004 when the officers were found interfering in drug investigations conducted by the FBI, reported the Star Tribune.

The ex-Ramsey County sheriffs maintain the pocketed money was part of a joke on their supervisor and they were planning on returning the money the night it was pocketed, reported the Pioneer Press.

"This is an egregious, shameful betrayal of the trust that has been placed in you," Judge Schiltz said. "This makes the job of a good cop that much more difficult and dangerous. And that makes us all less safe" (Pioneer Press).

Schiltz recommended that they go to the federal prison camp in Duluth.

Posted by lawre200 at 6:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Republican Norm Coleman fights to restore his senate seat by suing to overturn the results declaring Democrat Al Franken the winner, while Franken takes a vacation in Florida, reports the Star Tribune Thursday.

Coleman and his team are arguing to have all 11,000 rejected absentee ballots recounted, which they were against during the original recount, ending on Jan. 5.

The Pioneer Press reports Franken's attorneys are working without his presence in the court room and saying that Coleman is on "shaky legal ground" with their claims for the rejected absentee ballots.

Coleman Attorney, Joe Friedberg, said they withdraw their original objection to the ballots. Earlier statements by the Coleman team said the ballots would "yeild uneven results" (Pioneer Press).

Franken's attorneys held their original stance that everyone's vote is important, no matter the technicalities that caused them to be overlooked.

During the recount 933 rejected absentee ballots were tallied and put Franken ahead by 176 votes which lead to Coleman declaring the lawsuit.

The Franken campaign is displaying confidence that their man is the victor in this lengthy fight. Franken attorney reffered to Franken as "senator-elect" in the courtroom on Thursday reports the Star Tribune.

Posted by lawre200 at 7:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The jurors in the case of the RNC anarchist, David Mckay, are unable to come to a decision Friday, reported the Star Tribune.

The jurors, unable to reach a unanimous decision, were told by U.S. Chief Michael Davis to continue with the deliberation.

Brandon Darby, government informant, has been the source of the controversy, being accused by the defense as convincing Mckay to make and use the Molotov cocktails.

Jeffrey DeGree, defense attorney for Mckay, said, "He wasn't the eyes and ears. He was the mouth — a violent, firebomb-obsessed mouth." (Pioneer Press)

The prosecution fired back asking the jurors why would Darby convince someone to make and use Molotov cocktails, and argued that Mckay had gotten the idea when he attended the RNC Welcoming Committee in Austin, continuing to paint Mckay as an anarchist.

The Star Tribune reports Mckay took the stand in his own defense and said the idea to make the bombs was entirely Darby's.

Mckay faces 10 years in prison if convicted.

Posted by lawre200 at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)