An early-morning patrol went from bad to worse for a northern Minnesota police officer who stopped a driver for a bad headlight early Wednesday.
According to documents filed in Clay County District Court:
Stephen J. Hietala
Officer Brad Browning stopped a vehicle in Dilworth, just east of Fargo, for a nonworking headlight about 1:45 a.m. Checking on the driver, Stephen J. Hietala, 27, of Perham, Minn., Browning found Hietala had an active arrest warrant from Otter Tail County for an alleged assault on a peace officer.
Browning called for backup, and a Moorhead police officer arrived.
As the two officers tried to handcuff Hietala, the suspect resisted and the Moorhead officer attempted to stun him with a Taser.
But during the scuffle, Browning who was zapped by the Taser. Hietala fled. Browning and the Moorhead officer gave chase.
The two lost sight of Hietala, so they set up a perimeter and called for a Clay County police dog.
Officers found Hietala hiding between two garages, refusing to put up his hands, so the police dog was deployed.
But the dog mistook Browning for the suspect, and Browning suffered a bite to his leg in the area of his upper hamstring, said Dilworth Police Chief Ty Sharpe.
Hietala was ultimately subdued and booked into the Clay County Jail.
Browning needed six staples in his leg to close the dog bite, and he is taking time off to recover, Sharpe said.
Hietala faces six misdemeanor charges, including fleeing a peace officer, possessing a small amount of marijuana and obstructing the legal process. Court records did not list an attorney for him.
Diamond Reynolds wants her trial moved, citing a letter a Ramsey County judge wrote offering support to jurors who acquitted the police officer in the shooting death of Reynold’s boyfriend, Philando Castile.
Reynolds’ attorney, Mike Padden, indicated Friday at a pretrial hearing that he intends to file a change-of-venue motion in the case in the coming week.
Leary presided over the case. Yanez had been charged with second-degree manslaughter and dangerous discharge of a firearm after fatally shooting Philando Castile.
Reynolds and her then-4-year-old daughter were in the car at the time of the shooting, and Reynolds livestreamed its aftermath on Facebook.
Padden is representing Reynolds as she fights the charges. He characterized Leary’s letter as unprecedented and said it sabotaged Reynolds’ chances of getting a fair trial in Ramsey County.
“Our contention is that it disqualifies all the judges in Ramsey County (from hearing her case),” Padden wrote in an email. “There’s no law on this issue because no American judge, let alone (a Minnesota) judge, as far as we know, has ever done something like this, creating a unique legal issue.”
Leary did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Padden’s assertion.
Leary defended the jurors’ verdict in the Yanez case in his June 23 letter and responded to the community backlash that followed it.
A rally took place at the Minnesota Capitol hours after the verdict. A subsequent march temporarily shut down light-rail service and concluded with arrests on Interstate 94.
“I want to reassure you that the criticism of the verdict some have expressed is likely due to a failure to understand what you were asked to do and that you faithfully fulfilled the difficult task you were asked to undertake,” Leary wrote.
He went on to say that while he could not disclose his own opinion about the legality of Yanez’s conduct, he said jurors could rest assured that their assessment was grounded in the law.
“Your verdict was fully supported by a fair interpretation of the evidence and the law you were obligated to apply,” Leary wrote.
He added that some in the public failed to understand what jurors were asked to do in rendering their decision.
“You were never asked to decide whether racism continues to exist, whether certain members of our community are disproportionately affected by police tactics, or whether police training is ineffective,” Leary wrote.
Ramsey County District Judge Elena Ostby gave Padden until Aug. 11 to file his request for a change-of-venue in Reynolds’ case. The prosecuting attorney will then have a week to respond.
Ostby will hear arguments from both sides at a hearing Aug. 23.
Padden also filed a motion for the case to be dismissed, which prosecutors oppose. He contends that Reynolds was misidentified in the case and says she was not even at the location when the alleged assault took place.
A 24-year-old woman was injured during the incident. Two other woman also face charges for their alleged involvement.
A California man accused of causing a July 13 crash that killed three Minneapolis men on Interstate 94 has been charged in Wisconsin’s Dunn County Court.
Court records released this week reveal the suspect was impaired at the time of the crash.
Serghei Kundilovski, 36, Orangevale, Calif., faces three counts each of first-degree reckless homicide, homicide by using a motor vehicle while intoxicated and driving with a revoked license.
Kundilovski is slated to appear in Dunn County Court next week. A warrant for his arrest was issued Monday.
According to police reports, Kundilovski was driving the wrong direction in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 94 when he struck the 2015 Kia Soul the three men were in.
The head-on crash killed Adam G. Kendhammer, 32; Jeremy A. Berchem, 27; and Bryan E. Rudell, 29.
Kundilovski was severely injured in the crash and flown to an undisclosed hospital for treatment.
The crash happened at mile marker 33 on I-94, east of Hudson in the town of Lucas, near the border to St. Croix County.
Eyewitnesses told police that Kundilovski was driving a 2004 Mitsubishi Diamonte in the westbound lanes when he traveled through the median and onto the eastbound lanes and into oncoming traffic.
Police said they found two cans of “Ultra Duster” canned-air units in Kundilovski’s vehicle — with one on the front passenger’s side floorboard.
The Wisconsin Laboratory of Hygiene tested Kundilovski’s blood, which showed he had ethanol and difluoroethane — a compound in aerosol and air duster cans — in his system at the time of the crash.
Kundilovski’s license was revoked after he was convicted of drunken driving in Sauk County in June.
Markus Anthony Dashawn Jackson was left in a medically induced coma after being injured when a car smashed into the Metro Transit bus he was riding last month in St. Paul.
Jackson, 19, sustained a brain injury in the July 21 crash — in which another rider died — and ever since, his family waited anxiously for signs he might recover.
They got one earlier this week.
Markus Anthony Dashawn Jackson, 19, was critically injured when a car slammed into the Metro Transit bus he was riding on in St. Paul July 21, 2017. (Courtesy of family)
The 2016 graduate of St. Paul’s Central High School opened his eyes and spoke. His first words had something to do with pizza rolls — his favorite food, according to his mom, LaShonna Kyles. She got another emotional boost soon after.
“He actually said, ‘Hi, mom.’ That was big for me because it (meant) he recognized me,” Kyles said. “It’s going to be a very long road. … We don’t know how long. … I didn’t know if he (would ever be) able to speak … so just having any kind of response … gives me hope.”
Still, her son’s and family’s future are unclear, and that’s challenging and painful, Kyles added. She said doctors have told her that it’s too soon to know how complete a recovery Jackson will be able to make.
“It was a nightmare, and it still is to a point because I don’t know if I’ll get my (old son) back,” she said. “I’m optimistic, but we don’t know.”
Kyles stood with her arm around her husband, Rasu Kyles, as she spoke to reporters gathered in front of the Ramsey County Courthouse in downtown St. Paul on Friday afternoon.
Her comments to local media were supposed to come after a court hearing scheduled for the man accused of crashing his car into the bus two weeks ago. But the court proceeding was postponed until next week.
Kenneth Foster was killed in the collision, which took place about 7:30 that night, at Charles Avenue and Dale Street.
Kenneth J. Foster, 48, of Minneapolis, was killed when a car drove into the Metro Transit bus he was passenger on Friday, July 21, 2017, in St. Paul. (Courtesy of Kenneth Foster family)
Foster, 48, left behind six adult children, including a daughter he planned to walk down the aisle at her wedding in two months. He also had seven grandchildren.
Ramsey County sheriff's office
Tyler Randall Bjelland, 26
Tyler Randall Bjelland, 26, was driving the car that rammed into the bus Foster, Jackson and several other passengers rode that evening, according to the criminal complaint filed against him in Ramsey County District Court.
Witnesses reported that Bjelland was driving up to 100 mph on a residential Frogtown street before the collision. A police officer said the Minneapolis man smelled of alcohol after the crash, legal documents say.
His first court appearance was pushed back to Aug. 11, as he continues to recover from his own injuries.
He broke his ankles and possibly a leg in the crash and was taken to Regions Hospital.
A spokesman for the hospital said Friday that no information was available on Bjelland, who is on probation for a DWI-related conviction from 2016.
No attorney is listed for him in court records.
The Metro Transit driver whose bus he struck told police he was traveling about 25 mph on Dale Street when the bus “was suddenly thrown off the road by a tremendous force,” the complaint continued.
The bus driver said he didn’t even realize what hit him until he stepped off the bus and saw Bjelland’s Chevrolet Impala on fire.
A 27-year-old man told police that the Impala had sideswiped his parked car at Charles Avenue and Victoria Street, about a half-mile from the crash, and that the vehicle’s driver “appeared to be drunk,” the complaint said.
Another witness said the driver almost hit a number of parked cars before striking the bus.
Police said Foster was ejected from the bus and died. Other passengers, including a number of juveniles, were treated for minor injuries.
In December, Bjelland was convicted of third-degree DWI – refusal to submit to a chemical test.
LaShonna Kyles said she is choosing to stay focused on her son’s healing rather than the criminal case Bjelland faces.
Her son is strong, she said. The third-oldest of eight, Jackson loves football and basketball, she said. He attends St. Paul College with the goal of one day going into counseling.
“He’s that typical teenager who (loves) to be social,” she said.
She thanked medical staff and the community for the care and support offered to her family over the past two weeks. She also asked that people continue to keep the Foster family in their prayers.
The Fosters sent her son flowers at the hospital, a gesture that made Kyles teary as she recalled it Friday afternoon.
Ian Coulter, a co-worker of Kenneth Foster’s stands a memorial left by friends at the corner of Dale and Charles Street on Friday, July 28, 2017 as community members gathered to remember Foster who was killed by a drunk driver on a Metro Transit bus last Friday. “I worked right in front of him at Nidec Industrial Automation in the shipping department. He brought a lot of joy and was true to himself. He’s an honest man, a hard worker and cared about his family a lot. He was definately a storyteller” Giles said. (Pioneer Press / Ginger Pinson)
A man was killed and a woman was injured in a North Minneapolis shooting early Saturday morning.
According to a news release from the Minneapolis Police Department, the incident happened just before 3 a.m. when Shotspotter alerted officers to activity near the 1100 block of Broadway Avenue West.
When they arrived, officers found an adult male who had been shot. Paramedics from North Memorial Health Hospital arrived and pronounced the man dead at the scene. His death is being investigated as a homicide. His identity will be released once the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office has performed an autopsy.
As officers were investigating the incident, they were notified that an adult female who had been shot in the same incident had been taken to Hennepin County Medical Center to be treated for a non-life threatening injury to her left arm.
The incident remains under investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call 612-692-TIPS (8477). Information can also be sent anonymously via text: Type “MPD” followed by a space and then the information to 847411 (TIP411).
Police and federal authorities are investigating an explosion that occurred at an Islamic center early Saturday morning in Bloomington.
Someone apparently threw a bomb through the window of the suburban Minneapolis mosque as people were preparing for morning prayers, damaging the imam’s office but not injuring anyone, an official said.
The blast happened at around 5 a.m. at the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington. Police Chief Jeff Potts said at a news conference that investigators were trying to determine the cause of the blast.
Asad Zaman, director of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, said at a news conference that a witness saw something being thrown at the imam’s office window from a “van or truck” before the blast. WCCO-TV reports that he said it may have been a fire bomb. Mohamed Omar, the center’s executive director, said a worshipper saw a pickup truck speeding away afterward.
There were 15 to 20 people inside the mosque when the blast happened. Worshippers managed to extinguish the blaze before firefighters arrived, the society said in a news release.
The mosque serves as a religious center and community organizing platform for Muslim activists and leaders in the area, said the society, which is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest or conviction.
The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives are assisting with the investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call Bloomington police at 952-563-4900.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
St. Paul police and fire crews cordoned off the Cathedral of St. Paul after a bomb scare early Saturday afternoon.
Police spokesman Steve Linders said a trespasser evidently lit paper materials on fire inside the Cathedral. One of his possessions concerned authorities, so out of “an abundance of caution,” a bomb squad went through the cathedral to make sure it was safe.
Fire officials turned cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles away at the intersection of John Ireland Boulevard and Marshall Avenue for about an hour before the roads were opened again.
WASHINGTON — Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke is aware of the explosion today at a mosque in Bloomington, Minn. We are in close contact with federal, state and local authorities and local community leaders as the investigation into this matter continues. The Department of Homeland Security fully supports the rights of all to freely and safely worship the faith of their choosing and we vigorously condemn such attacks on any religious institution. We are thankful there were no injuries, but that does not diminish the serious nature of this act.
Mohamed Omar, executive director of the Dar Al Farooq Center in Bloomington, on Sunday condemns a fire-bombing that occurred at the mosque the previous day. No one was injured but the office of the imam was badly damaged. (Pioneer Press / Kristi Belcamino)
The incendiary device tossed into the Dar Al Farooq Center in Bloomington primarily struck the office of the mosque's imam. Damaged in the blast was the desk where the religious leader prepares for prayers in the morning. Shrapnel lodged in the side of the desk, the wall behind it and the ceiling above it. (Pioneer Press / Kristi Belcamino)
Members of the Dar Al Farooq Center in Bloomington on Sunday paid the mosque a visit to survey the damage after a fire-bombing on Saturday. They had been unable to enter then because authorities had cordoned off the complex. (Pioneer Press /Kristi Belcamino)
Erik Stoltenberg (center) heard about Saturday's attack on the Dar Al Farooq Center in Bloomington and, after church on Sunday, paid the mosque a visit with his 4-year-old daughter and 7-month-old son. (Pioneer Press / Kristi Belcamino)
Dozens flocked to show support Sunday for a Bloomington mosque that was fire-bombed earlier in the weekend, an incident being investigated by the FBI and which Gov. Mark Dayton is unequivocally calling a terrorist attack.
An explosive device apparently was thrown through the office window of the mosque’s imam at the Dar Al Farooq Center about 5 a.m. Saturday, according to authorities.
As many as 20 people were in the building at the time, but no one was injured in the blast and resulting blaze.
“This is a terrible, dastardly, cowardly, terrible act. … It’s a crime,” Dayton said during a visit to the mosque Sunday.
“It’s an act of terrorism, a criminal act of terrorism against the imam, who thank the good lord was not present in his office as it would appear this person intended,” Dayton said. “The destruction done to this sacred site is unthinkable, unforgivable, and I hope and pray the perpetrator will be caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
Dayton was part of a political delegation that visited the mosque Sunday. Others in the group included U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, and Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, the nation’s first Somali-American lawmaker and a Muslim.
Ellison said in a statement, “While we do not yet know who is behind this attack, we do know that they do not represent what makes Minnesota special. I know law enforcement will find the suspects quickly and bring justice to our community.”
The FBI has characterized the bomb as an improvised explosive device, but questions about who might be behind it, motives and specifics of the device remained unanswered Sunday.
The mosque invited the community to gather Sunday, saying on its Facebook page: “To best describe this event, I would like to quote Carl Gustav Jung, ‘I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.’ This event is a testimony of how resilient the DFC’s community is.”
Mosque members said Sunday that they believe the bomb targeted the imam. The mosque’s religious leader is typically in his office preparing for prayer, and therefore is lucky he wasn’t hurt or killed.
“He works right here in the mornings,” said Abdul Mohamed of Minneapolis, pointing out large holes torn into the walls, ceiling and desk.
Mohamed said he believed whomever lobbed in the fire bomb knew enough about the imam’s habits to specifically target him. He said the attacker must have been familiar with the religious leader’s office location and layout, as well as the facility’s schedule.
Mohamed Omar, the center’s executive director, was inside the mosque preparing for morning prayers Saturday and felt the explosion.
On Sunday, he reiterated the center’s certainty that its leader had been targeted and spoke about the community rallying behind the belief that “hope overcomes fear.”
“Everybody else was coming here for prayer; somebody else was coming here intending to hurt those people,” he said.
Because of the investigation, he wasn’t able to see the damage until Sunday morning.
“When I came this morning and saw the office … the destruction … completely damaged, the feeling in our community was that it was an attack on our imam,” Omar said.
“This is an icon in our center and our community who is knowledgeable and a very thoughtful person, and all of us gather around him,” he said. “This was an attack on our imam, and we feel very horrified and sad. On the other hand, we are very pleased to have our at-large faith-based communities and our neighbors and officials come out to support (us).
“That is something that gives us hope and that we always want to look for; fear cannot take over, fear cannot destroy our hope,” he added.
Erik Stoltenberg heard about the attack Sunday morning and after church went to visit the mosque with his 4-year-old daughter and 7-month-old son.
“I explained to her that people attend things that are like our church but different and that some people sometimes don’t like other people for bad reasons and that it was important for us to come and show our support as a community,” Stoltenberg said. “It was pretty hard to explain to a 4-year-old.”
Neither the FBI nor the Bloomington Police Department, which initially responded to the explosion, would speculate on a motive for the incident.
“At this point, our focus is to determine who and why,” Rick Potts, the FBI’s special agent in charge of the investigation, told reporters Saturday. “Is it a hate crime? Is it an act of terror? … Again, that’s what the investigation is going to determine.”
FIRE-BOMBER POSSIBLY SPOTTED
Asad Zaman, director of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, said at a news conference that a witness saw something being thrown at the imam’s office window from a “van or truck” before the blast.
Omar said a worshipper saw a pickup truck speeding away afterward.
Worshippers managed to extinguish the blaze before firefighters arrived, the society said in a news release.
Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the explosion inside the imam’s office was adjacent to two prayer areas that, he noted thankfully, weren’t being used.
“If it was Ramadan or one of the busier times, all of the space would be used,” Hussein said.
The Minneapolis Police Department released a statement Saturday from Chief Medaria Arradondo on its Facebook page:
“The Minneapolis Police Department continues to monitor the incident and information released by investigative authorities related to the explosion that occurred at the Dar Al Farooq Mosque in Bloomington, MN earlier today. At this time there are no known threats to any Minneapolis Mosques or Islamic organizations. The MPD will work with our local Muslim community members and continue to provide public safety in the neighborhoods where their places of faith and organizations are located.”
MULTIPLE REWARDS BEING OFFERED
A fundraising campaign via GoFundMe has been started to support the center. The initial goal was set at $95,000, and the campaign stood at about $25,000 as of early Sunday evening.
The mosque serves as a religious center and community-organizing site for Muslim activists and leaders in the area, said the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, which is offering a $24,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest or conviction.
Zaman, the executive director, said Sunday the reward comes from six different Muslim organizations.
The Minnesota Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is offering an additional $10,000.
Some religious leaders and politicians condemned the bombing as a possible hate crime. Hussein said a “standing opposition group” has regularly protested against the mosque since it opened in 2011.
The FBI said it is asking for the public’s help. Call 800-CALL-FBI.
Dayton released a statement on the incident Saturday and toured the damage on Sunday.
“Every place of worship, for all Minnesotans of every faith and culture, must be sacred and safe. My prayers are with the children, families, and faith leaders of the Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center today,” Saturday’s statement said. “I thank the Bloomington Police and Fire Departments, all other first responders, the FBI, and the ATF for their swift responses to this incident. Their investigations will be crucial in determining what happened this morning. I will remain in close contact with Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Mona Dohman throughout the weekend and until this investigation is complete.”
The federal Department of Homeland Security Saturday issued a statement, as well. It reads:
“Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke is aware of the explosion today at a mosque in Bloomington, Minn. We are in close contact with federal, state and local authorities and local community leaders as the investigation into this matter continues. The Department of Homeland Security fully supports the rights of all to freely and safely worship the faith of their choosing and we vigorously condemn such attacks on any religious institution. We are thankful there were no injuries, but that does not diminish the serious nature of this act.
This story includes reporting from the Associated Press, the Washington Post and Pioneer Press writer Will Ashenmacher.
A masked robber shot a 20-year-old convenience store clerk in St. Paul on Sunday evening, police say.
A male entered the SuperDay convenience store at the corner of West Seventh and Davern streets just before 6 p.m., said Steve Linders, a St. Paul Police Department spokesman. He brandished a handgun and demanded money before shooting the clerk in the stomach and fleeing the store, Linders said.
Najera
A man who came in the gas station found the clerk lying on the floor and called 911.
Paramedics transported the clerk to Regions Hospital, where he was taken into surgery, Linders said. His injury is not considered life-threatening.
Witnesses provided a description of a possible suspect vehicle and video from the area showed a male wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt, face mask and white T-shirt enter the store with a gun, Linders said. Nothing was taken from the gas station.
A short time after the shooting, officers stopped a vehicle about a mile from the gas station in the 1200 block of Homer Street, Linders said. They arrested the 18-year-old driver, Josmar Bonfil Najera, and the 16-year-old shooting suspect, who was in the vehicle’s backseat.
“This is a great example of the community and their police officers working together to catch two people involved in a terrible crime that could have left an innocent victim dead,” Linders said. “Thankfully, the victim is expected to recover and two dangerous suspects were taken off the streets.”
The Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, like other U.S. mosques, occasionally receives threatening calls and emails. Its leaders say they’re more frightened now after an explosive shattered windows and damaged a room as worshippers prepared for morning prayers.
“We feel like it’s much deeper and scarier than like something random,” Mohamed Omar, the center’s executive director, said Sunday. “It’s so scary.”
No one was hurt in the blast, which happened around 5 a.m. Saturday. Windows of the imam’s office were shattered, either by what the FBI called an “improvised explosive device” or by an object thrown through them. The FBI is seeking suspects and trying to determine whether the incident was a hate crime.
Gov. Mark Dayton joined other public officials and community leaders for a meeting inside the building Sunday, describing the bombing as “so wretched” and “not Minnesota.”
“This is an act of terrorism. This is against the law in America,” Dayton said at a news conference afterward, the Star Tribune reported.
Besides serving as a place of worship and community center, the mosque in Bloomington has a fitness center, gymnasiums for boys and girls, a football field and adjoins a city park, Omar said. He estimates the mosque holds up to 300 worshippers for Friday prayers. The community center also hosts computer classes, a basketball league, religious classes, lectures and other events.
“It’s a place that a family can come and get everything they need,” Omar said.
The mosque opened in 2011 at the site of a former elementary school and serves people primarily from the area’s large Somali community. Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community in the U.S., roughly 57,000 people, according to the latest census.
Some residents opposed the center’s opening, and complaints have been made about parking, noise and traffic, the Star Tribune reported. Omar said the center gets along with “92, 93 percent” of its neighbors.
And while the mosque has received threatening calls and messages, Deputy Bloomington Police Chief Mike Hartley said Sunday he was unaware of any hate crimes reported at the center.
Reports of anti-Muslim incidents in the U.S. are increasing, including arson attacks and vandalism at mosques, harassment of women wearing Muslim head coverings and bullying of Muslim schoolchildren. Also in Minnesota, an Islamic cemetery in Dakota County reported it had been vandalized with spray-painted profanities and swastikas.
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security statement on the Bloomington explosion says the department “fully supports the rights of all to freely and safely worship the faith of their choosing and we vigorously condemn such attacks on any religious institution.”
The reward for information leading to an arrest or conviction has grown to $24,000, said Asad Zaman, director of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, said its national office is urging Islamic centers and mosques to step up security.
“If a bias motive is proven, this attack would represent another in a long list of hate incidents targeting Islamic institutions nationwide in recent months,” said Amir Malik, the local chapter’s civil rights director.
The executive director of a Bloomington mosque that was bombed over the weekend says the building doesn’t have outside security cameras.
Mohamed Omar, of the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center said Monday that his community doesn’t have the money for security cameras. He also says they didn’t receive any threats before Saturday morning’s attack or claims of responsibility afterward.
Nobody was hurt in the explosion, which happened just before morning prayers. The blast damaged the imam’s office across the hall from the worship space.
Officials say witnesses saw someone throw something from a truck or van before the blast and saw a vehicle speed away afterward.
The FBI hasn’t said if it has arrested anyone or if it is pursuing any suspects. An FBI spokesman didn’t reply to a call Monday seeking further information.
A western Wisconsin police chief has died of cancer.
Prescott Police Chief Gary Krutke died Saturday after battling cancer, the police department announced on its Facebook page.
Prescott police chief Gary Krutke
“Our department mourns his loss along with family, friends and Prescott community,” the post reads.
Other law enforcement agencies also took to social media to express their grief.
Pierce County Sheriff Nancy Hove said on Facebook, “our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Chief Krutke and the Prescott Police Department.”
The Pierce County Peace Officers Benevolent Association said Krutke “loved every moment” of his service to the Prescott community.
“Gary, you will never be forgotten as you will be in our past, present and future,” the association wrote in a Facebook post. “The fight is now over my friend, we will take it from here.”
Krutke, who served in the department for more than 17 years, had been Prescott’s police chief since Jan. 13, 2014. He came to Prescott after working in law enforcement elsewhere in Wisconsin and Minnesota, according to the announcement.
Krutke was a military veteran whose service included deployment in Iraq, where he received the Purple Heart.
Funeral services were pending. Check back for more on Krutke’s life and service to the public.
A man sitting in a pew at the St. Paul Cathedral on Saturday started igniting paper and then shoved the lit pages down the church’s air vents, authorities said.
Dominic Segura’s behavior caught the attention of other churchgoers and then the police, who ordered a temporary evacuation of the Cathedral out of fear the 28-year-old might have been carrying a bomb.
It was later determined he wasn’t.
That’s the account outlined in a criminal complaint filed Monday against Segura in Ramsey County District Court. It charges the St. Paul man with one count of first-degree attempted arson and a second count of making threats of violence.
Both charges are felonies.
Police were called to the cathedral around 11:30 a.m. Saturday after receiving word that a man was trying to light a fire in the historic building.
Officers found Segura trying to fight off two people who were restraining him, the complaint said.
During a search of his belongings, police found a butane lighter, a bottle of liquid, an orange key fob with a black button on it, and a bag filled with books wrapped inside a wire connected to what appeared to be a computer hard drive, charges say.
Police also reportedly saw several pages torn out of a church hymnal near where Segura had been sitting.
The church was evacuated while a bomb squad investigated whether the wired items were explosive. They were not, the complaint said.
Other churchgoers told police they had seen Segura standing near the altar flicking a lighter as he mumbled unintelligibly, the complaint said.
He then started walking down the center aisle as he crumbled paper, they told officers. He lit the pages on fire after sitting down in a pew and began shoving them into a vent in the floor, court documents say.
That’s when witnesses intervened, stomped out the flames and grabbed Segura, the complaint said.
Segura threatened to shoot them as they held him down, charges say.
In an interview with police, Segura said he was at the church to pray and that he had wired the books together to keep them from falling apart. He added that he had flicked his lighter only to try and light candles inside the church, the complaint said.
Segura’s past criminal convictions include arson, theft and committing threats of violence.
He made his first appearance on the latest charges filed against him Monday morning. No attorney was listed for him in court records.
Federal border officials say they have seized $575,000 worth of counterfeit toy airplanes in International Falls, Minn.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection didn’t say what led them to question the 36,000 toy airplanes early this month, but further investigation determined that the importer and manufacturer lacked licenses to display the trademark or make the toys. The toys filled a rail container.
Customs and Border Protection officers at the Minnesota-Canada border in International Falls say these seized toys violate trademark laws. (Courtesy of CPB)
The toys’ packaging claims the airplanes are of die-cast metal with “pull-back action” and are safe for children age 3 and older.
Inspectors allege that the merchandise, destined for the Canadian port of entry in Ranier, Minn., violated “multiple laws and regulations.”
“CBP remains focused on enforcing the importation of counterfeit products while facilitating the lawful importation of merchandise,” said Anthony Jackson, director of the agency’s International Falls Port of Entry.
Unscrupulous companies have profited billions of dollars from the sale of counterfeit and pirated goods and stopping the flow of illicit goods is a priority trade issue for CBP, a branch of the U.S. Homeland Security Department.
The importation of counterfeit merchandise can damage the American economy and threaten the health and safety of the American people, CPB says.
The agency says it takes a multi-pronged strategy, seizing illegal merchandise at borders, “pushing the border ‘outward’ through audits of suspect importers, and working with international trading partners and industry and governmental agencies.”
An Anoka man admitted in court Monday to angrily posting nude pictures of his ex on a fake Facebook account after their relationship ended and she began seeing someone else.
Michael Weigel
Michael Weigel, 39, pleaded guilty in Ramsey County District Court to one count of nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images after reaching a plea deal in his case with prosecutors, court records say.
Weigel created a fake Facebook page under his ex’s new boyfriend’s name during the winter of 2016 and then sent friend requests to several people, including the woman’s family and friends. Then he posted about 20 semi-nude and nude photos of his ex on the wall of the social networking site.
His ex learned about the Facebook page after friends and family started contacting her about it.
Speaking to investigators from the Ramsey County sheriff’s office, she said the photos were taken during her relationship with Weigel.
Weigel also posted inflammatory statements about the woman and her boyfriend, according to court documents. In one, he allegedly named her place of employment and said she was unfit to work there.
In an interview with law enforcement, Weigel acknowledged creating the Facebook page and said he did it to “expose” his ex and her boyfriend, the complaint said. He added that his actions were not intended to “hurt anyone.”
Weigel’s attorney, public defender John Riemer, said his client is remorseful over his conduct.
“Mr. Weigel regrets his actions and he wishes he had not done them, and he regrets any embarrassment or any harm that the caused to the victim in this case,” Riemer said.
Weigel is expected to be sentenced in early October.
The bombing of a mosque in Bloomington on Saturday is the latest in a number of anti-Muslim incidents in Minnesota the past few years.
An improvised explosive device was thrown through the window of the imam’s office early Saturday morning at the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center. No one was injured in the blast, which happened just before morning prayers.
The FBI has taken over the investigation but on Monday did not offer any possible suspects or motives for the crime.
All hands on deck!: A rare look into the Command Center of #FBIMinneapolis investigation into the explosion at the Dar Al Farooq Comm. Ctr. pic.twitter.com/EoPHJEVhZD
“It’s part of an upward trend we’ve seen in anti-Muslim biases across the country,” Corey Saylor, a spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Monday.
Data by states is not available, but Saylor said the preliminary count of national mosque incidents in the first half of 2017 is 85, a record high for the past several years. If anti-Muslim incidents continue at this rate, 2017 will be one of the worst years ever for anti-Muslim hate crimes, according to the council.
In part, Saylor blamed what he termed the “divisive” rhetoric of last year’s presidential campaign.
“I attribute this to a combination of things: news incidents, then San Bernardino happened, then you combine it with the presidential campaign that I would assess was tapping into a vein of anger in this country and having a very divisive effect,” Saylor said. “We saw another spike after the election … and the levels have sort of stayed elevated since.”
Other anti-Muslim incidents — many of which have been labeled possible hate crimes — in Minnesota in the past few years include:
In October 2014, someone wrote “(Expletive) Islam” using motor oil at the end of the driveway of a home in St. Paul’s West Seventh Street neighborhood. The FBI was called to investigate it as a hate crime.
Two Muslim men were shot in what police considered a possible hate crime in June 2016. The men were a part of a group of five, dressed in Islamic attire and on their way to a mosque. The attacker allegedly made defamatory comments about Muslims before shooting. The men suffered non-fatal injuries.
In March 2017, two Muslim women reported being followed and harassed. One woman said while driving with her 1-year-old child, two people reportedly followed her, blocked her from parking and shouted obscenities at her. A different Muslim woman reported being followed and harassed in a supermarket.
That same month, a man reportedly told police “I hate Muslims” after biting and stabbing a man. He also allegedly said he “tried to kill a Muslim by stabbing him in the neck.” The Hennepin County attorney’s office suggested an increased sentence because the crime was motivated by bias or hate.
Most recently, vandals reportedly spray-painted profanities and swastikas at a new Islamic cemetery in Dakota County. The Al Maghfirah Cemetery was first denied by Castle Rock Township, but a court ultimately forced the township to issue a conditional use permit for the cemetery, citing the township’s original decision as arbitrary.
The FBI asked that anyone with information on this weekend’s explosion to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI.
In a statement by the FBI Minneapolis Division, Special Agent in Charge Rick Thornton said the FBI is using “every available resource,” including a command center staffed by dozens of agents, analysts and professionals; the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Va.; and FBI specialty teams.
Federal officials are involved because “if it’s a place of worship and it involves some sort of fire or explosion, the federal government takes over,” Bloomington Deputy Police Chief Mike Hartley said.
The mosque at 8201 Park Ave. S. doesn’t have outside security cameras that could have captured what happened, its executive director said Monday.
Mohamed Omar told the Associated Press that his community, which is made up mostly of Somali immigrants, can’t afford security cameras. He also said the mosque didn’t receive any threats beforehand or claims of responsibility afterward.
Officials say witnesses saw someone throw something from a truck or van before the blast and saw a vehicle speed away afterward. The explosion left a small hole in the ceiling and damaged the imam’s desk.
There has been an outpouring of support for the Muslim community since the attack.
The combined efforts of a LaunchGood campaign for the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center and the center’s own GoFundMe page had raised about $65,500 as of Monday afternoon.
On Monday night, Bloomington Mayor Gene Winstead was planning to assert that his city is a welcoming one at a city council meeting.
“Bloomington is a great city and a place where everyone should feel welcome. A city where we acknowledge our differences and want all individuals to feel safe and respected. We support everyone’s right to worship the faith of their choosing. We embrace the city’s growing diversity with inclusion and equity at the core.”
At 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Bloomington mosque is hosting the “DFC Solidarity Event” to provide a platform for community members to express their support and emotions.
In a sign of the ongoing safety concerns, a car from a private security company was parked outside the mosque Monday, the AP reported.
VIRGINIA, Minn. — Jesse Lee Bonacci-Koski told police that he left his 11-month old nephew Bentley alone for about two hours last Wednesday morning to go buy drugs, according to charges filed Monday.
Jesse Lee Bonacci-Koski
When the 24-year-old Bonacci-Koski returned to the house in Tower, the criminal complaint said, he saw firefighters at the scene and ran off — not yet knowing Bentley Joe Lewis Koski had perished in a house fire.
Bonacci-Koski then allegedly stole a vehicle, crashed it into a ditch, hid in the woods and eventually gave himself up to sheriff’s deputies all before noon that day.
On Monday, the Hibbing resident appeared in St. Louis County District Court, where he was formally charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter — both felonies — one count of felony auto theft and a gross misdemeanor charge of possession of methamphetamine which officers allegedly found in his backpack.
The manslaughter charges allege that Bonacci-Koski “did cause the death of” Bentley Joe Lewis Koski by neglecting and endangering the child.
District Judge Gary Pagliaccetti set bail at $200,000 for Bonacci-Koski, who is scheduled to be back in court on Aug. 21. He remained in the St. Louis County Jail in Duluth on Monday night.
Pagliaccetti also appointed a public defender for Bonacci-Koski, who told the court he had no job, no money and no ability to pay for a lawyer.
St. Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin, in a rare courtroom appearance, also informed Pagliaccetti that his office planned to seek an upward departure from normal sentencing guidelines. If found guilty of the manslaughter charges, Bonacci-Koski would otherwise face about 48 months in prison, Rubin told reporters after the hearing. Rubin is asking that any sentence for a guilty verdict will be longer because of the “particular vulnerability of an 11-month-old child” left alone.
Rubin told the judge that Bonacci-Koski, who was initially arrested Wednesday on outstanding felony warrants from earlier charges, is a threat to flee and that the defendant recently walked away from a chemical treatment facility. Bonacci-Koski also “is a danger to the public,” Rubin said.
According to the criminal complaint, Bentley Joe Lewis Koski was declared dead at the scene of the fire at 813 Third St. N. in Tower. The complaint said medical examiners later found soot in the child’s esophagus, stomach and airways.
The boy’s parents, Krista Joan Swanson and Cody Joe Koski, arrived on the scene shortly after the incident. They told Breitung Police Department Chief Jesse Anderson they had been gone for the night and that they left the child with a baby-sitter — Cody Koski’s brother, Jesse Lee Bonacci-Koski.
Bentley Joe Lewis Koski, 11-months old, of Tower was killed in a house fire at his home in Tower Wednesday morning. (Clint Austin / Duluth News Tribune)
They said Bonacci-Koski had baby-sat for Bentley before. But the criminal complaint said Bonacci-Koski was “nowhere to be found” when the parents arrived home Wednesday morning.
Officers later Wednesday morning responded to reports of a man acting strangely, sitting in someone’s vehicle in Tower without permission. The man initially had a dog with him that matched the description of the Koski family dog. Officers later responded to reports of a stolen Jeep Cherokee that eventually was located crashed in a ditch along Minnesota 169 in nearby Pike Township. Bonacci-Koski walked out of the woods near the stolen car and surrendered to St. Louis County Sheriff’s Deputy Trevor Banks.
In custody in the Virginia office of the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, Bonacci-Koski told officers that “he was guilty of neglecting the child and had left the child alone for two hours in the residence where the fire had occurred,” the complaint notes.
“In the interview with the defendant it was determined that he had left the child at the residence in Tower in order to go and buy controlled substances,” the criminal complaint notes.
Rubin said Monday a formal medical examiner’s report on the child’s death has not yet been released. Authorities also have not yet released the cause of the fire but have said it did not appear suspicious.
Bonacci-Koski has a long history with criminal courts dating back to at least 2011. He has felony convictions for second-degree assault and violating a harassment restraining order along with drug possession, fleeing police, check forgery, misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct.
Lying in the grass in front of his estranged wife’s St. Paul home last winter, Timothy Ka Vang fired several shots at his in-laws after they opened the front door. Now he’ll spend his foreseeable future in prison.
Ramsey County sheriff's office
Timothy Ka Vang
Timothy Ka Vang, 25, was sentenced Monday in Ramsey County District Court to 27 years in prison after pleading guilty in June to two counts of second-degree attempted murder.
His public defender could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
Vang was at Checkerboard Pizza in St. Paul in the early-morning hours of Jan. 28 when he got into a fight with his wife’s brother, according to court documents. He and his wife had been separated for about a year at the time.
Following the altercation, Vang threatened to kill his brother-in-law’s friends and family and then left the pizza place in his Toyota 4Runner.
Some time later, his brother-in-law was at his family’s home on the 1300 block of Bradley Street when his mother woke to the sound of knocking. Fearing that it was Vang, the man ran to the door and pushed his mother aside. When he opened it, he saw Vang lying in the grass.
Vang then began firing shots at the house, striking the man and his mother, court records say. Vang’s brother-in-law sustained gunshot wounds to his torso. His mother-in-law was hit in her torso, arm and leg. Both were taken to the hospital for treatment and survived.
Vang initially denied any involvement in the shooting, but the incident was caught on a neighbor’s surveillance system.
Vang was convicted in 2012 of two counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon after shooting at a car occupied by his then-girlfriend, their child and three other people.
He admitted at his sentencing hearing for that crime that he had a problem with anger and was trying to manage it.
Vang was also convicted of felony-level domestic assault in 2015.
ST. CLOUD — A St. Cloud man is being charged with second-degree murder after punching another man in an early Saturday morning confrontation.
Travis Johnson, 21, punched 22-year-old Anthony Shriver of Waconia while walking home with a group of friends at about 2:30 a.m., according to a St. Cloud Police Department report.
Police responded to the fight and took Johnson into custody, when he was cited for fifth-degree assault and released.
Shriver, who showed no signs of physical injury, complained of a headache but was not treated at the scene.
Hours later, paramedics were dispatched to Shriver’s home, where he was unconscious. He was declared dead at about 12:30 p.m. at his home.
An autopsy determined Shriver died of trauma consistent with the assault.
Johnson later turned himself in to police at about 11 p.m. Sunday. He is being held at the Stearns County Jail.
