Two Cottage Grove restaurants failed a compliance check last month, when servers sold alcohol to underage patrons Nov. 30.

A 44-year-old woman was cited for selling alcohol to an underage patron at Carbone’s Kitchen and Pub, 7155 Jorgensen Lane.

This is the second violation in two years for Carbone’s, meaning the restaurant and bar will receive a $1,000 fine plus a three-day license revocation.

A 24-year-old Cottage Grove woman was cited for selling alcohol to an underage patron at Applebee’s, 8380 East Point Douglas Road.

Applebee’s will be fined $500 and receive either a one-day suspension or an educational program for all employees.

The city’s public safety department does compliance checks on liquor licenses twice a year.

After a 29-year-old man raised a gun toward a St. Paul police officer in March, the officer told investigators “he reluctantly held off from shooting” to “give him every opportunity” to drop the gun, according to a decision released by the Ramsey County attorney’s office Friday not to charge two officers who fatally shot him.

But Cordale Handy again pointed the gun at the officer, and the officers shot him.

Before the encounter with officers in Dayton’s Bluff, Handy had aimed the gun at his girlfriend and fired 16 shots inside her apartment in the 700 block of East Sixth Street, the memo said of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s investigation. Handy was under the influence of drugs, an autopsy found.

Warning: Video contains graphic language

Handy’s girlfriend and a friend told officers that Handy’s gun was not loaded, and pleaded with them not to shoot him.

Yet the Ramsey County attorney’s office said in the memo that there was “no way (the women) or the officers could be sure that he did not reload his gun.”

“While it is true that information was presented to the officers that Mr. Handy’s gun may have been unloaded, it would be unreasonable for anyone to expect and incredibly dangerous for the officers to presume that was true under these facts and circumstances,” County Attorney John Choi wrote in a message, in which he said he agreed with prosecutors who determined the officers’ use of force was justified.

Handy’s mother filed a federal lawsuit in April against St. Paul and the officers, Mikko Norman and Nathaniel Younce, saying her son was unjustly shot.

“For months, we have been working to get information from the city’s attorneys regarding the BCA investigation into this tragic case,” Andrew Stroth, the attorney representing Handy’s mother, said Friday. “We are in the process of reviewing the memorandum from the Ramsey County attorney’s office and materials from the BCA. Based on eyewitness accounts and other relevant information, it is our perspective that Cordale Handy did not present a threat and was unjustifiably shot and killed by the St. Paul police officers.”

Police Chief Todd Axtell said in a statement Friday that what happened on March 15 “is a tragedy.”

“My heart goes out to the Handy family, who has lost a loved one,” he said. “I also feel for the officers who ran towards danger, had a stolen gun pointed at them and were forced to take action. They did not choose the situation; the situation chose them. And their lives have been forever changed.

“The investigation revealed evidence that shows the violence, terror and danger endured by those in the apartment building and neighborhood during the minutes that preceded the incident,” Axtell continued. “Sixteen shots were fired inside the apartment. Lives were put at risk. Officers showed incredible restraint, giving Mr. Handy multiple opportunities to drop his weapon. And even then, he made the decision to point his gun at them. While the investigation clearly shows that our officers did everything they could to pursue a different outcome, I take no solace in the fact that our officers were put in such a dangerous position and a man lost his life.”

CORDALE HANDY FIRES SHOTS IN THE APARTMENT

The memo summarizing the case, written by the first assistant Ramsey County attorney and the criminal division director to Choi, gives the following account:

Early on March 15, Handy’s girlfriend — Markeeta Johnson-Blakney — used her cellphone to take a 14-minute video inside her apartment. The video, which investigators obtained, begins with Handy holding a black pistol with an extended ammunition magazine in one hand and a cellphone in the other.

“Mr. Handy is seen furtively looking around the apartment” and appeared to be suspicious that someone was hiding in the unit, though Johnson-Blakney “repeatedly assured” him no one else was there, the memo said.

Handy’s autopsy showed he had a bath salt-like drug in his system, which is known as “Molly” and “is considered a designer drug … that is a psychoactive substance with stimulant effects. Agitation and erratic behavior has been reported with the use of this drug,” according to the memo. Police also found methamphetamine in the apartment.

Johnson-Blakney yelled at Handy not to shoot and tried to get him to put down the gun. Handy screamed, “They’re gonna kill me!!,” the memo said.

Handy started shooting, leaving damage in the apartment’s walls and sofa, and also bullet holes in the walls of two other apartments.

Handy was barred from possessing firearms because he was convicted of felony drug possession in 2006 and felony attempted vehicle hijacking with a firearm in 2007, the memo said. At the time of his death, he was awaiting trial after being charged with possession of a firearm by an ineligible person in 2016.

OFFICERS SAY HE POINTED GUN AT THEM TWICE

Police were notified about the situation on March 15 when another resident in the apartment building called 911 at 2:18 a.m., saying he heard a female screaming for help and that it sounded like a male “was beating the hell out of her.”

Johnson-Blakney also called 911.

“I know you have been alerted to an incident,” she told a 911 operator. “… There have been shots fired … the gun is unloaded. Please do not shoot him …. He has taken drugs. He is a little out of his mind right now. He has a weapon but (expletive) it is not loaded. For sure. Could you please let them know.”

When Officers Norman and Younce arrived at the apartment building at 2:21 a.m., they noticed Johnson-Blakney and a friend of hers running after Handy. The friend told Younce that Johnson-Blakney had told her Handy’s gun was unloaded.

St. Paul officers had not yet begun wearing body cameras when Handy was killed — they were rolled out in the department in September — but surveillance video outside a nearby community center showed Handy walking while holding a pistol in his hand. The video does not show Handy being shot because he had moved out of the camera’s view.

Younce reported that he yelled to Handy, “Police, stop, drop the gun, get on the ground!,” the memo said. The officers saw Handy “appear to unintentionally ‘flop’ down onto his buttocks and lay on his back on the curb,” the memo continued. The officers then saw Handy sit up and briefly raise the pistol toward Norman before lowering it.

Both officers again ordered Handy to drop the gun, but he raised it. Norman reported that Handy “pointed (the gun) right at me … and I thought he was gonna shoot me,” the memo said. Johnson-Blakeny was about 15 yards behind the officer. Younce told investigators he was concerned for the safety of Norman, himself, Handy’s girlfriend and friend, and others in the area.

At 2:27 a.m., Norman and Younce fired at Handy, who was struck seven times, according to the autopsy.

FYI

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension released documents on Friday from their investigative case file, which can be viewed here.

A man found dead in a Maplewood park Tuesday has been identified.

Maplewood police officers responded to a report of a deceased male found in the city’s Battle Creek Park around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

St. Paul resident Willie C. Hill III, 35, died of hypothermia, according to the Ramsey County medical examiner.

Police don’t suspect foul play. Toxicology results are still pending.

A man died in a vehicle fire Friday afternoon in Oakland Cemetery, the St. Paul Fire Department said.

St. Paul firefighters arrived at the area of Litchfield Street West and Sylvan Street around 1:15 p.m. Friday. Smoke from the fire could be seen miles away.

Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, but determined resuscitation efforts on the victim would be futile. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

St. Paul police said they are investigating the incident and there is no threat to the public.

St. Paul police and the Ramsey County medical examiner are investigating the cause of the fire and of the death.

The identity of the victim has not been released. 

Police halted a basketball tournament game Friday night at a west-Central Minnesota high school Friday night and the crowd evacuated after terrorist threats were called in by phone.

At 6:55 p.m., a caller made “direct terroristic threats” via phone against the Benson High School campus, Benson Police Chief Ian Hodge said in a news release posted on the department’s Facebook page.

The rest of the Friday night tournament schedule was canceled.

Law enforcement was able to trace the call to a mobile phone from the Fargo-Moorhead area, according to tournament officials.

Authorities arrested the person they believe is responsible for the threats, Hodge said in the news release. There was no further threat to the public, he said.

The investigation is continuing and further information, possibly including a motive, will be released later, Hodge said.

Benson Police Department officers, Swift and Grant County deputies and Minnesota State Patrol troopers worked jointly to investigate and identify the suspect.

The Case IH Boys Basketball Tournament games will be rescheduled Saturday, according to Benson High School staff.

MOORHEAD, Minn. — A man was arrested after a children’s birthday party got out of hand just before midnight on Thursday in Moorhead.

According to Moorhead police, two men at the party had been drinking and got into an argument.

Tobe Givens III, 39, was asked to leave the party.

Police said Givens refused, grabbed a knife sharpener and started to make threats. Someone at the party then punched Givens, leaving a cut on his face.

Multiple calls were made to police, including one from a child.

Officers arrived on the scene and had to break down a door before they arrested Givens, who was uncooperative.

According to police, Givens faces possible charges of second-degree assault and terroristic threats.

A greedy Grinch stealing Christmas parcels off front porches allegedly was caught green-handed Thursday morning when he unknowingly snatched a bait package left by the Edina police.

Raymond Montel Hester, 36, was arrested around 4:15 a.m. when he allegedly stole a package from a resident’s porch in the 4300 block of Brook Avenue, said Kaylin Eidsness, public information officer for Edina police.

With the resident’s permission, police had placed the package, which looked temptingly like a computer laptop box, on Dec. 6. But instead of a pricey Dell, police hid a GPS tracker inside.

Police received an alert when the package began to move. Police stopped Hester and discovered more packages in his vehicle, Eidsness said.

He has been charged with possession of stolen property and taken to the Hennepin County Jail, Eidsness said.

An estimated 23 million U.S. residents have had packages taken from their doorsteps, according to a 2015 InsuranceQuotes report.

To learn how to protect your packages from thieving Grinches, follow these 14 tips from the St. Paul Police Department and Best Buy.

The FBI Minneapolis office issued a fraud warning via twitter Saturday afternoon after it received multiple calls from people worried they were under investigation.

An email is circulating that appears to be coming from the FBI office. It warns recipients that their IP address has been involved in fraudulent activity and directs them to contact the Internet Crime Investigation Center at the FBI.

The email looks official, and even includes a case number and contact information. However, according to a source at the bureau, the information lists agents who don’t work there or don’t exist.

It reads: “Through investigation conducted by our Cyber Division of the FBI, your IP address was used to commit several online fraud and abuse crimes.”

The FBI has not sent this email. Those who receive it are not under investigation, FBI officials said.

Recipients are warned not to contact the number listed in the email, but rather to report it.

First it was road rage, then it wasn’t. Now, the shooting didn’t even happen in Ham Lake.

Minneapolis police have taken over the perplexing investigation of the shooting of a 21-year-old Elk River man that happened Wednesday night.

Originally reported as a road rage altercation gone wrong on Minnesota 65, investigators now say there’s more to the story and that the shooting actually took place in Northeast Minneapolis.

Adam Clippard, 31, of Ham Lake, Zachary Hintz, 20, of Zimmerman and a 16-year-old girl were arrested Thursday on suspicion of aiding and abetting second-degree assault.

Anoka County sheriff’s deputies responded about 7:20 p.m. Wednesday to the parking lot of a SuperAmerica store on Constance Boulevard and Minnesota 65, where they found the victim in his truck suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. Investigators subsequently ruled out road rage as a factor and, after questioning the suspects and checking traffic cameras, began to doubt the origin of the shooting as well.

Minneapolis police confirm that they have taken the case and that the shooting happened within their jurisdiction, but have no further information because the investigation is active.

“As of this time, no suspect is in custody,” said Glenn Burt, a Minneapolis police spokesman. “Also, at this time, the motive for the crime is still uncertain.”

Police are not yet releasing the identity of the victim, who underwent surgery at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids. He was in stable condition Thursday, police said.

After Philando Castile was fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights nearly a year and a half ago, it seemed like nearly everyone wanted to weigh in on what should happen next.

Calls for the officer to be charged came swiftly. Many in the community believed St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez recklessly killed the 32-year-old black man while Castile’s girlfriend and her 4-year-old child looked on.

Others came to the defense of Yanez and other police officers tasked with making split-second, life-and-death decisions.

Their opinions weren’t the ones that counted, though. The decision rested with Ramsey County Attorney John Choi.

In November of last year, Choi made history when he became the first county attorney in Minnesota’s modern history to bring criminal charges against a police officer involved in an on-duty fatal shooting.

Choi charged Yanez with one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm for endangering the lives of Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and Reynolds’ daughter.

Reynolds live-streamed the shooting’s immediate aftermath on Facebook, capturing worldwide attention when the footage when viral.

In June, a Ramsey County District Court jury acquitted Yanez on all the charges after the officer testified that he saw Castile gripping a gun despite commands not to do so.

A national dialogue about police use-of-force, particularly against people of color, continues.

Twin Cities residents are awaiting Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman’s decision on an officer-involved fatal shooting of an unarmed Minneapolis woman last July.

Just this Friday, Choi declined to charge officers involved in the fatal shooting of Cordale Handy, a black man, in St. Paul last March.

Choi agreed to an interview with the Pioneer Press to reflect on how and why he arrived at charges in the Castile shooting — a case he knows will define his career.

The following is that interview, conducted Thursday. It’s been edited for brevity and clarity.

Let’s go back to July 6, 2016, shortly after then-St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez fatally shot Philando Castile during that traffic stop. It happened in Falcon Heights, your jurisdiction, so the decision about whether Yanez crossed a line criminally belonged to you. When did you start to feel the weight of it all?

I remember that night I stayed at work late, just kind of thinking about what I would say to the public, and we came to the conclusion that it was important for me to say something, to tell the community, you know, I got this, I am the person that will be responsible, I will figure these issues out.

So that’s when I started to recognize that this would be a case that would be defining for me from a professional standpoint, defining for our community, and something where the whole world is going to be paying attention. So you can imagine the thoughts and feelings I was having. I had to put my game face on and get ready for what I needed to do, which was to be strong and make sure I fought hard for the integrity of this process.

The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension spent about three months investigating the case, and your office got it in late September. Why does the process take so long, especially when other cases are charged in a couple of days? 

Well, the first thing to recognize with respect to a police officer-involved shooting is that the issues are complex and it’s not just a simple cut-and-dried investigation. Only a small percentage of these result in convictions. So you have to make sure that the investigation is thorough because from a prosecutor perspective, the thing you never want to have happen is for you to charge a case and then have a judge dismiss it and say that you did not have probable cause or the requisite facts.

I know from the perspective of the community, it’s really hard to understand why it takes so long because they are thinking, “Well, we need an answer. We need some action to happen.” … But in the course of getting it right, I think space is so critical for investigators to be able to do what they have to do.

And as your team worked through the process and reviewed the case, were you all on the same page, or were there lots of back-and-forth conversations?

The conversations were really important because — it wasn’t so much anybody saying, “I don’t feel like this case should be charged”; it was more everybody raising all the issues that a defense attorney would raise and kind of thinking through all of the issues. So even if you kind of thought this case should be charged, we were being very thorough and critical about all of the pieces of evidence we had and making sure that we were being thorough about … whether or not we believed we had probable cause.

CASTILE TRYING TO PUT OFFICER AT EASE

Is it fair to say that earlier on, you knew you were going to charge the case but that you needed more time to kind of poke holes and make sure you had looked it from every angle?

We didn’t make a decision about prosecution until after we had gotten the case, but I think that, I can speak for myself, I started feeling that this case should be charged when I heard the audio (from the squad camera) and you hear the tone of what’s happening with each of them and I am hearing Philando Castile trying to do everything he can to put the officer at ease and I am also hearing maybe confusing commands. So just for me, personally, that was when my thoughts started to change about this particular case.

And we had (Reynolds), who was sitting next to Philando Castile who told us what she perceived. Taking her account — though it was confusing, I’ll admit that — what she was saying was … he was trying to comply with the officer’s commands and was doing everything that he could to be respectful.

So that was my evolution as I was kind of thinking about this case. For me it’s about doing the right thing. I have to look at myself in the mirror, and I know that from the standpoint of that charging decision, I know forever I will be remembered as the person who, if you didn’t like that decision, I am the one that I guess “moved the cheese.” And for those who liked the decision, I guess it’s a bold, courageous decision or however people might characterize it. But trust me, no prosecutor wants to be in that spot. I mean it’s not something that I woke up and said I want to do. But I recognized that when I ran for election, this was something that I signed up to do.

Did you ever waver, especially considering you were the first in Minnesota to go there? 

I felt good about it because at the end of the day, I have to just do what is right. That is what the public is asking me to do. To be fair and impartial and to think about justice and to think about everybody involved, the officer, Philando Castile and his family, Diamond Reynolds, her daughter. And it’s a heavy thing, to charge a police officer with a crime in this context in the line of duty, because Officer Yanez woke up that morning and his intentions were never to be in this situation. He didn’t wake up saying, “I want to kill somebody today.” He woke up and said, “I am going to do my job. I am going to protect the public and do it to the best of my ability.” … He was confronted with some choices, and from our perspective, he made the wrong choices that were in violation of the law.

‘A CASE OF UNREASONABLE PANIC’

You said when you announced your decision to bring charges in this case that “no reasonable officer knowing, seeing and hearing what Officer Yanez did at the time would have used deadly force.” Why do you believe Yanez shot him? Do you believe, as Gov. Mark Dayton said shortly after the shooting, that had Castile been white, he’d be alive today?

When I said that, I don’t think that an officer who was trained in the way a typical officer would be trained would have taken those actions; there were so many things that could have happened to avoid that.

And we can’t get in the mind of Yanez. But I think what the governor was trying to articulate is that we have to recognize that …we all come to our life or our situations with our own life experiences. We all have biases based upon how we were raised and our professional experiences inform our judgments and our decisions. Everybody in this world has it. It’s actually a survival mechanism, so in that context, was there implicit bias in this case? Well, I think in every context of police interaction there is that implicit bias. I have an implicit bias as I sit here today based on my life experiences. Now if we are talking about (whether) Officer Yanez intentionally shoot Philando Castile because of his race, the answer would be no, I don’t think so. Again, I don’t know what’s in the mind of an officer, but I think as a society, we should presume that he wouldn’t do that … — that (nobody) in our law enforcement would ever do that.

There were a whole host of other issues, though. Some people might point to the traffic stop itself. Our expert said it was unreasonable for Officer Yanez, as a car was driving down Larpenteur Avenue, to assume that … Philando Castile was the (suspect) in that robbery.

… When the governor was speaking, I think some people may have misinterpreted what he was saying. I think he was talking about this implicit bias that we all have, and in the context of how that affects communities of color, because I think if you talk to African-American men, oftentimes they share stories of having been pulled over multiple times or not been given the benefit of the doubt. Or that they are presumed to be aggressive and dangerous … and that can be very disheartening and degrading, and also just exhausting.

Are you saying you think Officer Yanez just panicked?

Yeah, this case was about unreasonable panic.

Officer Yanez entered into a voluntary separation agreement with St. Anthony after he was acquitted and is no longer serving there as a police officer. Do you feel like he is equipped to serve anywhere as a police officer after what happened?

No, I don’t think so, and I am glad that the city took the action that they took and … whatever is in Officer Yanez’s future, I hope it’s … good. … But I don’t think he should be a police officer. He couldn’t be a police officer in (Minnesota); I don’t think a community would want that.

A LOT TO ASK OF JURORS

You were the first county attorney in Minnesota to file charges against a police officer involved in an on-duty fatal shooting in at least the state’s modern history. Is it your belief that no other police officer has crossed that criminal line before?

In the end, the state lost this case. Why do you think that was?

I think, again, whenever you are charging a police officer in the line of duty, that is a tough mountain to climb. In fact, I think it’s just a little more than 20 percent of these type of cases that actually result in a conviction, and so they are just extraordinarily hard. I think a big part of that is because you are really asking the jurors to … turn their world view upside down.

Because of many people’s trust in the police?

Yeah, and the lens they are then going to view the (case) with.

So you knew going in that it this was going to be a hard case to win? 

Yeah.

How much involvement did you have with your team on making the calls about how to present the case and handle the trial?

Well, it’s probably the biggest case that has happened in my tenure as the county attorney, so I was very involved, but my style of leadership is not to micromanage people, and so I assembled … a really great prosecution team in Rick Dusterhoft, Jeff Paulsen and Clayton Robinson to actually handle the case — they have years and years of jury trial experience — and then I was updated along the way.

THE BCA INTERVIEW

you have heard criticism about your team’s decision to wait to introduce Yanez’s initial statement to BCA investigators until he was on the stand. The move ended up backfiring when the judge and the jury never got to hear that audio from Yanez. In retrospect, was that a mistake by the prosecution?

Well, I think you have to keep in perspective that the people who might be criticizing it weren’t really involved in trying cases and they probably weren’t in the courtroom. We did the best that we could. With respect to the audio of the BCA interview, based upon past practice of how things work in Ramsey County, that was a statement of the defendant, a party opponent, and the rules say you can introduce it at any particular time. We also believed with 99.9 percent certainty that Officer Yanez was going to take the stand based on conversations with the defense and other factors, so we made the strategic decision to introduce this interview through him. We wanted to make him listen to what he said on the stand and impeach him on the (discrepancies) that we thought were critical. Like how he never actually mentioned the word gun or seeing a gun (in his BCA interview), which was vastly different from what he testified in court.

So based upon past practice and what the rules allow, we didn’t think it was going to be an issue at all to introduce that evidence through Yanez … so of course we were surprised when the judge said we couldn’t and that took us off our game a little bit.

But I think the public needs to understand that what Officer Yanez said in that interview was still available to the jurors. Rick Dusterhoft just had to present it the old-fashioned way, which was to read what Yanez said while he cross-examined Yanez.

GOOD THINGS CAME FROM THE CASE, HE SAYS

Were you surprised by the verdict?

But … that is what the jury decided, and I am a big believer — and I have an obligation — to support that process. And I asked the public to accept the verdict, too, and I got criticized by some for that, but that is the process.

And I think some good things happened as a result of this case, and because the state was willing to bring forward charges. And there is so much to learn from it. How we train officers in the future, implicit-bias training for police as well as everybody in the executive and judicial branches of government, (what are appropriate) use-of-force policies.

Also the fact that Officer Yanez is no longer working as a police officer, because of the actions that St. Anthony took there, because that is about accountability. When people are reviewing officers’ use-of-force, especially deadly force, we have to hold people accountable, and the public needs to know that that won’t always mean in the context of a criminal charges. In fact, those will continue to be rare, as they should be.

What kind of feedback did you get from law enforcement?

To this day, nobody has come up to me and said, “You blew it. You hurt us. You did something horrible.” But … I have friends in law enforcement who tell me that there are a lot of police officers around the state that are very upset. They think that the charges were not appropriate, that this was a tragic accident, not a crime. I can live with that because I believe I did the right thing.

But in September I had a lot of meetings that involved police agencies … and I got a lot of positive feedback from people in the police community then, (but) they whispered (it) in my ear.

A lot of those people were probably at the rank of sergeant or above, … and if they are a sergeant they are probably going somewhere in their career, meaning they had the capacity to see the bigger picture and could process things in a different way.

Let’s shift gears and talk about your counterpart across the river, Mike Freeman. He has a big decision coming up in whether to file charges in the officer-involved fatal shooting of Justine Ruszcyk Damond. People are anxiously waiting for him to say what he is going to do. What advice do you have for him? Have you been in communication with him? 

Well, I don’t know all of what he is weighing … he is not telling me anything about his particular cases. But my advice would be to the public, that they give him all the space that he needs. Mike is grounded in fairness, in making the right decision, and he is going to do that, whatever it might be. … I would ask the public to be supportive of the hard work he … and his team (are) doing to try and get this right, because it’s about … getting to the truth, and then determining whether or not you can make charges.

You’re planning on running for county attorney again, right? Why do you want the job?

Yes, I will make an announcement at some point after the New Year. I have so many tell me, “Boy, you have the toughest job. I feel so sorry for you.” … But I feel very blessed and honored and humbled that I am in this position. I believe in the concept of vocation, and so I believe this is what I am supposed to do.

Maplewood Police are looking for three suspects who attempted to steal several carts of toys Saturday night from the Toys R Us store on County Road D.

There was just one glitch in their plans: Their getaway car wasn’t ready to go. When the car wouldn’t start, they took off on foot, leaving it and the loot behind in the store’s parking lot.

Maplewood police were having fun with the incident on Twitter, posting a picture of the Grinch’s sleigh next to a gas can.

Vehicle from attempted theft at Toys R’ Us pictured below… #VRA pic.twitter.com/datoQ1qTqz

— Maplewood Police MN (@MaplewoodPolice) December 17, 2017

The thieves, who appear to be female, were caught on camera exiting the store with cartloads of toys.

Anyone with information can send a message to tips@maplewoodmn.gov.

Jose Hernandez Solano was bicycling home from his job at the Brasa eatery on St. Paul’s Grand Avenue last month when he was struck and fatally injured by a hit-and-run driver.

So on Sunday, dozens of his fellow cyclists honored him appropriately: They rode as a pack from Brasa to the location near Grand and West Seven Street where the accident occurred.

At that spot, Hernandez Solano’s friends have erected a “ghost bike” — A donated bicycle, painted white and locked to a pole, to mark the location where the cyclist met his end, and to warn other cyclists about staying safe.

Ride participants included David Fernandez, Hernandez Solano’s co-worker and bicycling partner, who spoke to the crowd of several dozen cyclists before the event began.

“Thank you so much for coming everybody,” said Fernandez, who seemed close to tears. “I lost my friend. It has been so hard for me …. Thank you beautiful people. Thank you.”

Later on Sunday, St. Paul police announced two arrests in the case.

St. Paul Police announced two arrests Sunday in the hit-and-run death of Jose Hernandez Solano on the same day his fellow friends and cyclists gathered to remember him.

Hernandez Solano, 52, was bicycling home from his job at the Brasa eatery on St. Paul’s Grand Avenue shortly after midnight Nov. 26 when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver.

The driver ran a red light at West Seventh Street and Grand Avenue, and Hernandez Solano suffered “grave injuries,” police said. He died Dec. 7 after being taken off life support.

Dustin Joel Hegner-Royce, 28, of St. Paul was arrested at 4 p.m. Saturday in the 1100 block of Reaney Avenue on suspicion of criminal vehicular homicide, according to a tweet posted Sunday by the St. Paul Police Department.

Abbey Rose Hegner, 47, of South St. Paul was arrested Friday on suspicion of aiding an offender. She is the registered owner of the vehicle believed to have been used in the hit-and-run, police said.

UPDATE ON Jose Hernandez Solano case: Two arrests made.

Abbey Rose Hegner, 47, of S. St. Paul, owner of SUV, arrested Friday: aiding an offender.

Dustin Joel Hegner-Royce, 28, of St. Paul, arrested Sat.: criminal vehicular homicide. Investigation continues; no more info avail.

— Saint Paul Police Department (@sppdmn) December 17, 2017

Hernandez Solano’s family in the U.S. and Mexico was “absolutely overjoyed” to hear about the arrests, said Ash Reynolds, Brasa’s manager of communications.

The family is grateful to the people of St. Paul, the city’s police force and those who came to Sunday’s vigil, Reynolds said.

On Sunday, dozens of fellow cyclists honored Hernandez Solano appropriately: They rode as a pack from Brasa to the location near Grand and West Seventh where the crash occurred.

At that spot, Hernandez Solano’s friends erected a “ghost bike” — a donated bicycle, painted white and locked to a pole, to mark the location and to warn other cyclists to stay safe.

Ride participants included David Fernandez, Hernandez Solano’s co-worker and bicycling partner, who spoke to the crowd of cyclists before the ride began.

“Thank you so much for coming everybody,” Fernandez said. “I lost my friend. It has been so hard for me …. Thank you beautiful people. Thank you.”

Hernandez Solano was one of 13 children and is also survived by his parents; he was a father of three.

“He was a very generous, funny guy, always entertaining, kind of a jokester around here,” said Megan Gall, general manager at Brasa Rotisserie on Grand Avenue, where Hernandez Solano was a dishwasher. “He was very well-liked and an incredibly hard worker.”

Hernandez Solano was an avid bicyclist who took safety seriously, though he had also faced danger about three weeks before the crash that took his life. He was biking to work when a vehicle hit him and drove away; his arm was banged up and he had noted the driver was texting, according to Gall.

Police released few details about the arrests Sunday but said they are still gathering information.

Hernandez Solano’s body was flown to Mexico this week for burial. On Monday, upon the family’s request, his bike will follow, Reynolds said.

“Jose’s bike is returning to Mexico tomorrow,” she said. “They wanted us to send it so they could have it as a way to pay tribute to their father.”

A gofundme account has been set up to help Hernandez Solano’s family.

Julio Ojeda-Zapata and Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this article.

Members of a Minnesota family have traveled to Denver to help look for a 29-year-old man last seen leaving a nightclub about 1 a.m. Friday.

According to local media reports, Adam Ronald Gilbertson’s apartment door was found unlocked with his keys inside. Family members from Minnesota filed a missing person report and have been putting up signs and knocking on doors in hopes of finding him.

Surveillance images capture Gilbertson making a video while sitting at the Syntax Physic Opera Bar & Restaurant, which he posted online, according to his family.

“I’m really scared,” his sister Amy Linnell told Fox31 News. “It’s very suspicious — and nothing is like Adam.”

A Lyft driver told the family that Gilbertson mentioned having a bad night and being harassed.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 720-913-2000.

Gilbertson is originally from Randolph, Minn., according to his Facebook profile. He works at a Denver hospice center.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, who publicly criticized agents investigating the death of an Australian woman fatally shot by a Minneapolis police officer, said Monday that he is sorry and was wrong to discuss the agency’s work in a public setting.

Freeman issued both written and videotaped statements Monday apologizing to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is investigating the July shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. He said he didn’t know he was being recorded when he spoke critically of investigators, but “nonetheless, my comments, under any circumstances, were ill advised and I am sorry.”

Last week, Freeman was at a union holiday reception when he was asked about a charging decision against officer Mohamed Noor. Freeman expressed frustration, saying he doesn’t have enough evidence yet to charge the officer. He said it wasn’t his fault and investigators “haven’t done their job.” He also suggested Noor’s refusal to speak to investigators had put prosecutors in a difficult position.

“I have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, (that) the moment he shot the gun, he feared for his life. And he used force because he thought he was gonna be killed,” Freeman said last week. “But I can’t. He won’t answer my questions because he doesn’t have to, OK?”

While he apologized in his statement Monday for speaking publicly about the case, Freeman did not say whether he stood by the comment that investigators were not doing their job or whether it was inaccurate.

He also said that investigators have been working nonstop to gather evidence and follow every lead to resolve the case, but police cases are complex and demand the most thorough investigations possible.

“While some clamor for swift justice, only careful, detailed work and careful analysis brings us real justice,” he said Monday. “That is what this case deserves and that is what it will get.”

Freeman said Monday that he believes it’s his responsibility to talk to constituents who ask him what he is doing, so he did so when he was approached. But he admits it was wrong to discuss the investigators’ work. In addition to the public apology, he said he also personally apologized to the Department of Public Safety commissioner.

The BCA had no comment Monday, but has said that it’s been working with Freeman’s office from the beginning and will continue to do so. The BCA said it investigates the majority of officer-involved shootings in Minnesota “because of our thorough and professional approach to ensuring the integrity of an investigation.”

According to authorities, Noor shot Damond in the alley behind her Southwest Minneapolis home in July after she had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault. As she approached the squad car, Noor fired from the passenger seat, across his partner and through the driver’s window.

Damond’s death sparked protests and led to a police department shake-up, including the resignation of Police Chief Janee Harteau.

Freeman had said previously that he wanted to have a charging decision by the end of the year. He said Monday that he’ll share information about the status of that decision next week.

Attorneys for Damond’s family and for the officer have expressed concern about Freeman’s comments, but for different reasons.

Bob Bennett, the attorney for Damond’s family, said Freeman’s apology was carefully crafted, “but most notably he did not say that any criticism or complaint he leveled at BCA was, in any way, inaccurate or unfounded.” Bennett has said that BCA investigations favor officers’ version of events.

He said Monday that if Freeman’s criticism is true, then “the BCA should be the party apologizing.”

Noor’s attorney, Thomas Plunkett, said he was aware of Freeman’s apology and is “just trying to do everything I can to make sure that Officer Noor is treated fairly in this process.” Last week, Plunkett said investigators gather evidence, they don’t create it. He said he would be concerned about any supplemental investigation overseen and influenced by Freeman’s office.

A man being interviewed by Minneapolis police pulled a knife at City Hall Monday evening before being shot by at least one officer, according to a source with direct knowledge of the incident, KSTP-TV is reporting.

At least one officer responded by opening fire, injuring the man, the station said. It’s unclear how many officers fired a weapon.

The source tells KSTP that the man, still alive, was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center.

KARE-TV is reporting that the man may have stabbed himself at some point leading up to the confrontation with the officers.

New info confirmed through sources- suspect began harming himself – stabbing himself – while no officers were with him in interrogation room. Cops came in, tried to stop him, fired when they say lunged at them with knife. @kare11

— Lou Raguse (@LouRaguse) December 19, 2017

I’m told self-stabbing and shooting happened after suspect was interrogated by police. Not beforehand.

— Lou Raguse (@LouRaguse) December 19, 2017

Minneapolis police in a tweet said “there was an officer involved shooting” in the department’s investigative unit.

“This is a contained incident and there’s no threat to the public,” that tweet said. “BCA is on site. More info to follow.”

There was an officer involved shooting in MPD’s investigative unit at City Hall this evening. This is a contained incident and there’s no threat to the public. BCA is on site. More info to follow

— Minneapolis Police (@MinneapolisPD) December 19, 2017

According to Police Clips, an “officer called out that there were shots fired in room #108 at the Minneapolis City Hall. One person was shot.”

KARE-TV and other news outlets are reporting that the incident was caught on tape.

Here’s what @abroaddus and I have confirmed through police sources- MPD was interviewing a man.. who eventually threatened them with knife.. they shot man. Encounter was caught on videotape. @kare11

— Lou Raguse (@LouRaguse) December 19, 2017

Police have cordoned off sections of city hall’s first floor as the investigation continues.

Just walked inside #Minneapolis City Hall. Crime tape is up along the rotunda, blocking access to elevators and stairs on the first floor. Waiting for more information. pic.twitter.com/HC7pRWBUkO

— Iris Pérez (@IrisPerezFOX9) December 19, 2017

@wwozzydo scene outside Mpls city hall pic.twitter.com/4teiUY7yEe

— Nathan (@bear55369) December 19, 2017

A St. Catherine University security guard who falsely reported to police that he was shot by a black man will not have to serve any immediate jail time and could avoid it altogether.

During his sentencing Monday, Ramsey County District Judge Nicole Starr ordered Brent Patrick Ahlers to pay about $4,500 in restitution for the expense incurred by law enforcement who spent hours hunting for the fictitious assailant. But Starr gave him an opportunity to avoid jail if he meets other requirements imposed by the court.

Those requirements include attending six sessions of a group led by Ramsey County District Judge George Stephenson for men whose lives have intersected with the criminal justice system.

Most of those in the group are African-American, Starr told him.

After the six sessions, Ahlers will have to report back to Starr on what he learned about the impact his actions had on the African-American community.

“I’ll expect you’ll have something to say that’s a little bit more than ‘I’m sorry,’” Starr said.

Starr also prohibited Ahlers from possessing or owning a firearm during his one-year probation.

If Ahlers doesn’t meet the conditions, Starr said she will send him to jail for 60 days.

She told Ahlers that his “boondoggle” created fear for many who believed an armed shooter was on the run in their neighborhood.

Ahlers, who wore a gray suit and a black shirt to the hearing, addressed the court before being sentenced.

“I am sorry for the event in general and the fear and pain I caused,” Ahlers said.

The 35-year-old called 911 on Sept. 12 and said he was shot by a suspicious person he claimed he confronted in a wooded area of St. Catherine’s campus along Cleveland Avenue.

Ahlers told authorities the shooter was a black male with “a short Afro,” according to police scanner traffic posted by MN Police Clips at the time.

His concocted story included telling officers that his assailant fired after Ahlers busted him smoking marijuana on the campus, according to an account provided to the court by his attorney Monday.

The report set off an intense manhunt that involved 55 officers, four dogs and a State Patrol aircraft. The university temporarily shut down following the report.

The next day, after being treated at Regions Hospital, Ahlers confessed he made the story up.

He told investigators that he accidentally shot himself while handling his personal handgun and lied about it out of fear of losing his job.

He was charged with one count of falsely reporting a crime, a misdemeanor. Ahlers pleaded guilty in October.

The incident angered some, who said Ahlers’ choice to implicate a black man perpetuated a long history of African-Americans being wrongfully accused of crimes.

They also said it put black men in jeopardy while police searched for a suspect.

The university fired Ahlers after the incident and he has moved out of state to escape the backlash, his attorney Eric Rice said Monday.

His client didn’t mean to have his gun on him when he went to work that day, but he mistakenly left it in his backpack, Rice told the judge. He was walking in the woods when he accidentally dropped it. The firearm went off when he was attempting to clean it off on his shirt, Rice said.

Rice asked the judge to consider Ahlers’ voluntarily confession when deciding his appropriate punishment.

“He did the right thing, the hard thing … He knew he made a grave error,” Rice said.

St. Paul City Attorney Tamara Larsen argued that Ahlers should spend 60 days in jail given the serious repercussions that followed from Ahlers’ lie.

Not only did it cost law enforcement thousands of dollars in lost manpower, it caused several young black men in the area to be targeted by police, Larsen said.

She added that Ahlers continued to lie about what had really happened for nearly 24 hours after the event.

“Even now he doesn’t seem to fully understand how serious this was,” Larsen said.

Tyrone Terrill, president of the African American Leadership Council, attended the sentencing and said afterward that the judge went too easy on Ahlers.

“He should have gotten the maximum on everything,” Terrill said. “When you say you have an active shooter in the community … it’s only by the grace of God that nobody got hurt.”

The maximum penalty for misdemeanor offenses in Minnesota is 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Terrill said he attends Stephenson’s men’s group and said he plans to ask Ahlers tough questions when he shows up for his first session.

“It’s not going to change him … But I think he will feel the wrath of our community,” Terrill said.

A Dakota County jury convicted a 24-year-old Brooklyn Park man Monday in the death of an Eagan woman and her unborn child, according to prosecutors.

Vern Jason Mouelle, was found guilty of two counts each of first-degree and second-degree murder in the deaths of 25-year-old Senicha Marie Lessman and the unborn child on Jan. 24, 2017. The jury deliberated for four hours.

Dakota County District Court Judge Erica MacDonald gave Mouelle two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, according to a statement released Monday evening by Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom.

“We are pleased to have brought Vern Mouelle to justice for this horrific crime,” Backstrom said in the statement.

Lessman’s naked and unresponsive body was found by her mother. A bloodied cloth was stuffed in Lessman’s mouth and a knife wound was visible on her neck, according to prosecutors. Attempts to revive Lessman were unsuccessful and she died at the scene.

Lessman was 32 weeks pregnant at the time. Mouelle was the unborn child’s father, the mother told investigators.

According to prosecutors, Mouelle apparently searched “How long would it take to die if one of your external jugular vein(s) was slit” on his phone while driving to Lessman’s residence. They also found a receipt for a pocket knife bought earlier that day, Lessman’s cellphone and bloody women’s clothing after getting a search warrant for a vehicle registered to Mouelle’s father.

Lessman, who worked at Old Navy and Panda Express in Eagan, was due to give birth March 19.

A south-metro motorist got quite a surprise Wednesday when a large piece of plastic sheeting flew off a dump truck and “enveloped” his sport-utility vehicle, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.

The State Patrol on Friday shared a trooper’s dash-cam video of the incident, which played out on U.S. 52 in Inver Grove Heights. On Twitter the post was accompanied with the hashtags, #YouDontSeeThisEveryDay and #SecureYourLoad.

The motorist was able to safely pull his plastic-covered SUV to the side of the road.

In the video, the trooper is seen approaching the SUV — and heard chuckling at the sight.

SAUK RAPIDS, Minn. — Sauk Rapids police say one man is dead and another hospitalized after a shooting.

Police responded to a report of gunshots just before 3 a.m. Friday. Two men were found with gunshot wounds. Both victims were taken to St. Cloud Hospital, but the St. Cloud Times reported that one man died of his injuries.

Sauk Rapids Police Chief Perry Beise said the second victim was recovering from surgery.

Police were withholding the names of both victims.

No suspects were in custody, but the police chief said investigators “do have leads” and there is no risk to the public.