Recently in Local Category

A 4-year-old boy fell out of a third-story window of an apartment building in Spring Park on Sunday.

The boy was airlifted to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale after he reportedly fell 25 feet to the ground, the Star Tribune said.

Police said that the child had pushed out the screen of the third-story window and then fell out. His condition is not yet known according to the Pioneer Press.

Police said they are investigating the boy's fall but are currently considering it an accident, the Star Tribune said.

A 52-year-old man was killed after his rental-truck struck a support beam which collapsed and crushed the vehicle in the West parking lot of the Mall of America on Friday night.

Two passengers in the vehicle were injured and taken to hospitals, but their condition has not yet been released, Minnesota Public Radio said.

The vehicle was driving up the West parking lot's access ramp when it struck the steel-and-concrete support beam above the vehicle, which then fell on top of the cab of the vehicle, crushing the driver inside, the Star Tribune said.

Bloomington Deputy Police Chief Rick Hart said that the incident was most likely an accident. The U-haul truck was too large for the particular ramp and Hart said that the driver may not have noticed the hanging device that would have tapped the vehicle upon entry to let the driver know it was too big, the Star Tribune said.

The driver and passengers were attempting to go to the mall, but according to Hart they simply "Misjudged the height of the van and the access allowed by the ramp," Minnesota Public Radio said.

The mall remained open as crews examined and cleaned the scene, but the west parking garage entrance will stay closed until the structure surrounding the accident has been fully repaired and examined, the Star Tribune said.

Traffic moving westbound on Interstate 94 is back to normal after a semi was towed from the entrance of Lowry tunnel where it jackknifed on Sunday morning.

The semitrailer truck jackknifed and overturned at the entrance of Lowry tunnel just after 10 a.m. blocking two lanes of traffic going westbound on I-94 for about 90 minutes, the Star Tribune said.

No other vehicles were involved in the crash, the truck was not carrying any cargo, and the driver was uninjured, the Pioneer Press said.

The driver said that wet roads caused the incident, but the cause is still under investigation, the Pioneer Press said.

The semi was removed by towing crews around 11:35 a.m., the Star Tribune said.

A South Minneapolis house, over 100-years-old, caught fire early Saturday morning leaving one person dead and four other hospitalized.

Firefighters arrived at the house, 2812 1st Av. S., at 4:30 a.m. Saturday and found the front of the 2 1/2-story house on fire and surrounded in smoke, the Pioneer Press said.

Firefighters found five people inside the house. One died at the scene and the others were taken to Hennepin County Medical Center with conditions still unknown, the Star Tribune said.

The owner of the building, Cy Ratsamy, said that he was renting the home to a mother in her 40's, her boyfriend, and the woman's daughter. No names have been released of the victims, the Pioneer Press said.

The cause of the fire remains unknown, the Star Tribune said.

Five firefighters suffered from heat exhaustion and one resident was injured in a three-alarm fire on Sunday in northeast Minneapolis.

The fire started around 3 p.m. after an explosion occurred at 2321 Fillmore St. NE., where firefighters arrived to find flames in the basement, the first and second floors of the duplex house. The source of the fire was not discovered, the Star Tribune said.

Firefighters gained control of the fire around 4:30 p.m., the Pioneer Press reported.

The fire severely damaged the house, as well as melting the vinyl siding on the home north of the duplex, Star Tribune said.

The condition is not yet known of the resident who was injured in the fire, and the firefighters were treated and released from Hennepin County Medical Center, the Pioneer Press said.

The other residents of the home were uninjured and found shelter with the aid of the Red Cross, the Star Tribune said.

A small experimental aircraft crashed into Upper Whitefish Lake near Brainerd on Sunday, killing the pilot and injuring the passenger.

The plane, a fixed-wing single engine Skystar Kitfox 4, crashed into the lake at around 9:50 a.m., and was found submerged approximately 75 yards from shore, MPR News reported.

The pilot, a 55-year-old man from Crosslake, died in the crash and the passenger, a 61-year-old man also from Crosslake, was injured and taken to Cuyuna Regional Medical Center in Crosby, where he is being treated for serious injuries, the Star Tribune said.

The names of the victims have not been released.

Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was amateur-built in 2008, MPR reported.

Police continue to investigate the Apple Valley shooting that left a man and a woman dead in the parking lot of the woman's apartment building on Saturday morning.

Witnesses told police that they saw a man chasing a woman through the parking lot of 12790 Germane Av. where he shot her several times before he also shot himself, the Star Tribune reported.

The man and woman, both 41, whose names have not yet been released, were declared dead at the scene, Police said.

"It looks like a straightforward murder-suicide," police Capt. Mike Marben said Sunday.

According to the Pioneer Press, the man and woman had previously been in a relationship and had two children together. The children lived with their mother and were placed in protective custody following the shooting.

The children were with a baby-sitter at the time of the incident, the Pioneer Press said.

Mother of the three River Falls girls who were murdered on Tuesday, received a phone call from her ex-husband who said to her, "You can come home now, because I killed the kids," according to a criminal complaint that was filed Thursday.

The murder report stated that Aaron Schaffhausen slashed the throats of his daughters Amara,11, and Sophie,8. Cecilia, 5, was strangled as well as having her throat cut by her father, the Star Tribune reported.

The three girls were found in their separate beds with sheets pulled up to their necks, the criminal complaint said.

"I've been prosecuting for 30 years ... and this is, by far, the worst case I've seen," said St. Croix County District Attorney Eric Johnson.

Aaron Schaffhausen was charged with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide by the St. Croix County Circuit Court on Thursday, and will have a preliminary hearing on July 24, the Pioneer Press said.

Hennepin County District Court is scheduled to sentence either jail or probation to Amy Senser who is guilty of two felony counts of vehicular homicide.

Senser, the wife of former Viking star Joe Senser, was charged in May for hitting and killing Anousone Phanthavong while he was putting gas in his stalled car on the Riverside Avenue exit ramp on August 23, the Pioneer Press said.

Senser was convicted of fleeing the scene and not notifying the police as soon as possible, the Pioneer Press said.

Senser has defended the incident was an accident and her attorney said she is "deeply remorseful," but the prosecution states that Senser's remorse has not been genuine and she has only given "hollowed excuses," the Star Tribune reported.

If Senser is sentenced to jail on Monday she could get between 41-57 months in prison, the Star Tribune said.

A teenage girl was hit and killed by a speeding SUV while she was waiting for a bus in St. Paul on Thursday.

Clarisse Grime, 16, and her boyfriend were sitting in the grass in front of Harding High School and waiting for a city bus when a red SUV sped through a stop sign, hopped over the curb, knocked over a fire hydrant, and hit Grimes, killing her instantly, the Star Tribune said.

Grime's boyfriend, Eduardo Vazquez-Torres, 17, was injured in the incident and was taken to Regions Hospital where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Witnesses at the scene said the SUV was speeding on Third Street headed east when the driver attempted a sharp turn onto Hazelwood when he lost control of the vehicle, MPR News reported. He jumped out of the SUV before it rolled down a small embankment where Grimes was crushed by the vehicle, witnesses said.

The driver, a 50-year-old man, is in custody on suspicion of criminal vehicle operation, police said.