A 19-year-old St. Paul man has been charged in connection with an armed robbery that left a man and woman injured after the two attempted to sell an iPhone on Facebook, authorities say.
Maurice Darshae Walker, 19 (DOB 05/14/1999) of St. Paul was charged in Ramsey County District Court Tuesday, March 26, 2019 with four counts of first-degree aggravated robbery. He is accused of being involved in an armed robbery in St. Paul’s Hamline-Midway neighborhood March 23 that left a man and woman injured by gunfire. (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Maurice Walker was charged Tuesday with four counts of first-degree aggravated robbery, according to the criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court.
They arrived to find a man and woman with gunshot wounds. The man was shot in his upper left arm and the woman in her right thigh and lower left leg.
They told police they were shot by two men who met them at the location to buy an iPhone 10 they offered for sale on Facebook Marketplace, charges say.
Walker arranged the sale, telling the couple he’d pay $450 for their phone, according to the complaint.
Police used the messages Walker exchanged with the woman on Facebook to identify him.
He denied having any role in the robbery when he was arrested in Brooklyn Park Monday, according to the complaint.
A second man was also arrested in connection with the case but the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office declined to charge him due to insufficient evidence.
No attorney was listed for Walker in court records. He’s scheduled to make his first appearance on the charges Wednesday.
BARRON, Wis. — The Douglas County man accused of holding 13-year-old Jayme Closs captive for nearly three months after killing her parents will return to court Wednesday.
Jake Thomas Patterson, 21, of Gordon, is scheduled to appear for arraignment in Barron County Circuit Court at 1 p.m. Under Wisconsin criminal procedure, a defendant is formally advised of the charges and asked to enter a plea of guilty, not guilty or no contest at the time of arraignment.
Patterson is facing two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, kidnapping and armed burglary in the Oct. 15 killings of James and Denise Closs and the abduction of Jayme from their Barron home.
Patterson last month waived his right to a preliminary examination, and Barron County Circuit Judge James Babler found probable cause for him to stand trial.
Defendants in serious felony cases commonly plead not guilty at arraignment, even if they later change the plea, in order to allow time to receive additional evidence that could affect the case, file various pretrial motions or negotiate a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Patterson, however, has indicated he intends to plead guilty to the charges. In a letter from the Polk County Jail, he told KARE-TV that he wants to spare Jayme and her family the need for a trial.
“I can’t believe I did this,” he wrote in the letter, postmarked Feb. 28. “It was really stupid though looking back.”
If Patterson does plead guilty, he likely would be asked to confirm some details of the crimes to establish a factual basis before the judge accepts the plea. A presentence investigation is typically ordered, and a sentencing date is scheduled.
Patterson can still change his mind and plead not guilty. In that case, a trial date may be scheduled.
Patterson allegedly told investigators that he decided to kidnap Jayme after seeing her getting on a school bus while driving to a job that he held for two days. He did not know her or her family.
The defendant allegedly confessed to investigators that he immediately “knew that was the girl he was going to take” and spent several weeks planning every detail of a crime that would leave no evidence behind.
A criminal complaint alleges that Patterson shaved his head, purchased a mask and made modifications to his car before taking Jayme from her Barron home in the dark of night on Oct. 15. He allegedly shot each parent in the head after forcibly entering their home, having vowed to leave behind no witnesses.
The complaint states Patterson took Jayme in the trunk of his car to his home and regularly required her to hide under his bed, barricaded by storage bins containing barbell weights, whenever he had visitors over or needed to leave the residence.
Jayme escaped Jan. 10, approaching a neighboring cabin owner for help. According to court documents, she told investigators she was left alone and was able to push the tote bins away, putting on a pair of Patterson’s shoes and running for help.
Patterson was stopped and arrested nearby. He told investigators he had returned after a few hours away and, upon finding Jayme missing, went out in search of her, according to the complaint.
Patterson faces mandatory life sentences on each of the homicide charges, up to 40 years for kidnapping and 15 years for burglary. If convicted of homicide, it would be up to the judge to determine whether he would have a future opportunity for parole.
Community meetings about Ramsey County sheriff’s officers wearing body cameras will be happening soon, but county commissioners urged the sheriff Tuesday to move them out of government buildings and into neighborhoods.
Sheriff Bob Fletcher agreed to that idea and said he would hold more than the four he initially proposed.
“Overall, this whole concept (of body cameras) is about transparency and accountability,” Fletcher said. “It really is a chance for us to build trust with the community.”
A moment of tension came during the county board workshop after Commissioner Trista MatasCastillo told Fletcher that, when it comes to determining body camera policy, she “would highly recommend that the community tell us when they want that camera to be on.”
Fletcher responded, “I can assure you I’m going to listen intently to the community and I’m going to use their input and yours, but ultimately that decision will be mine, about when the camera’s on. And hopefully we’ll all be in agreement.”
But Danny Givens Jr., among the community members who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said he regarded Fletcher’s reply as dismissive and he’s concerned the voices of community members won’t be taken into account.
Givens, who is pastor of Above Every Name Ministries, said he wanted to hear the discussion because of the amount of money Fletcher is proposing to spend on body cameras and staff — nearly $1.4 million this year and just over $1 million next year — while he sees a lack of investments to address disparities in the community.
NEW SHERIFF WANTS BODY CAMERAS FASTER
Last year, then-Sheriff Jack Serier told the county board about his plan for body cameras, which would have put them in place in January 2020, said Scott Williams, Ramsey County deputy manager of safety and justice.
Fletcher, who was elected sheriff in November, said during his campaign that he wanted to implement body cameras immediately. He began the conversation with county commissioners at Tuesday’s workshop.
Body cameras aren’t budgeted for this year, but County Manager Ryan O’Connor said the county board has committed to funding them. The commissioners will have to vote to approve the funds and will hold a public hearing.
The cameras are about $500 each, but additional fees for storing the footage is where it gets expensive, Fletcher said.
“For instance, if you left the cameras on all the time, this cost would skyrocket almost uncontrollably because of the storage that’s necessary,” he said.
Fletcher said he would want patrol deputies to activate the cameras when they’re dispatched to a call and correctional officers to turn on the cameras any time they have contact with an inmate.
County Board Chairman Jim McDonough said he hopes body cameras in the jail will bring more clarity to cases.
In his 18 years as a county commissioner, McDonough said most of the discussions about settling lawsuits have involved the jail. When there’s been footage from surveillance cameras or cameras used by jail supervisors, there have been problems with telling what’s actually happening — someone might be standing in the way of the camera, for example.
“It provides enough doubt that we’ve had to pay out settlements when I’m pretty confident that if we actually had proper record of that, it could be different,” McDonough said, adding that they also want to make sure inmates are protected if there are allegations of mistreatment.
COMMUNITY MEETINGS TO BE SCHEDULED
Fletcher initially told the commissioners he hoped to have patrol deputies wearing body cameras by the end of June, but he said after the meeting that the launch will likely be pushed back about a month to allow for additional meetings.
The first community meeting about body cameras will be April 25 at 7 p.m. at Vadnais Heights Commons.
There will be a meeting in Falcon Heights, where a St. Anthony police officer fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop in 2016, because Fletcher said the incident “dramatizes the need for body cameras and there’s clearly a lot of of interest in that community about the … policing services they have.”
The date for that meeting and approximately six others haven’t been determined.
The sheriff’s office serves as the police department in Arden Hills, Falcon Heights, Little Canada, North Oaks, Shoreview, Vadnais Heights and White Bear Township.
St. Paul police began using body cameras in 2017 and a variety of other departments also have them. The Washington County sheriff’s office rolled out body cameras in 2017 and Anoka County sheriff’s patrol deputies began wearing them last June.
Correctional supervisors have been using body cameras in the Dakota County Jail for four years. Sheriff Tim Leslie said he believes they have “helped reduce frivolous lawsuits.”
The Dakota County sheriff’s office is gearing up to get body cameras for patrol deputies. They plan to present a policy to the county board in April, which will be followed by a public hearing and testing of body cameras, Leslie said.
Minneapolis police are investigating the death of a woman whose body was found Tuesday afternoon behind a house on the city’s north side.
Officers responded about 5:30 p.m. to a report of a body behind a house in the 3500 block of Dupont Avenue North, according to a news release issued by the Minneapolis Police Department.
The circumstances surrounding the woman’s death are not yet known, the news release said.
The department’s crime lab processed the scene, while investigators canvassed the neighborhood and interviewed several people.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner will identify the woman and determine her cause of death.
Police ask that anyone with information about this case call CrimeStoppers 1-800-222-8477, or submit a tip online at www.CrimeStoppersMN.org.
Bleeding from her head and neck, a woman walked up to a house in St. Paul and started knocking.
When no one answered, she crossed the street and tried another address.
That’s where she was when police found her about 2 a.m. Sunday morning, sitting on a front porch outside a home on Central Avenue, moaning, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court.
As an officer approached her, he saw she had blood running down her face and also had a large area of skin on her forehead that had been peeled back from what appeared to be a traumatic injury.
The woman, who is 55, told police she was riding in a red truck with her longtime boyfriend, Wilson Townsel, 58, in St. Paul when he suddenly reached over, opened her passenger door and shoved her out of the moving vehicle, the complaint said.
Wilson Townsel
She was able to hold on to the vehicle for a little while, but she said the speed of the truck caused her to lose her grip and fall into the street, legal documents say.
She was taken by ambulance to Regions Hospital and rushed into surgery, the complaint said.
Officers found her after one of the residents whose door she knocked on called police.
In addition to the gaping wound on her forehead, doctors discovered the woman had a collapsed lung, fractured ribs and a ruptured spleen, along with bruises and scrapes on other areas of her body, authorities say.
Townsel, of Fridley, was charged via warrant Tuesday with one count of first-degree assault resulting in great bodily harm. He was expected to make his first appearance on the allegations Wednesday afternoon.
No attorney was listed for him in court records.
Townsel’s criminal history includes a misdemeanor-level theft-by-swindle conviction in 2018 and a theft of burglary tools conviction in 2014.
BARRON, Wis. — A Wisconsin man pleaded guilty Wednesday to kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs and killing her parents, in a move that spares the girl held captive in a remote cabin for three months from the possible trauma of having to testify at his trial.
Jake Patterson, 21, sniffled and his voice caught as he pleaded guilty to two counts of intentional homicide and one count of kidnapping. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors dropped a count of armed burglary. Patterson faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced May 24; Wisconsin does not have the death penalty.
Patterson had said he would plead guilty in a letter sent this month to a Minneapolis TV station, saying he didn’t want the Closs family “to worry about a trial.”
Patterson admitted kidnapping Jayme after killing her parents, James and Denise Closs, on Oct. 15 at the family’s home near Barron, about 90 miles northeast of Minneapolis. Jayme escaped in January, after 88 days in Patterson’s cabin in near the small, isolated town of Gordon, some 60 miles from her home.
Patterson stoically answered “yes” and “yeah” to repeated questions from Barron County Judge James Gabler about whether he understood what he was doing. Later, as he responded “guilty,” to each count, he could be heard sniffling. He paused for several seconds after the judge asked him about the kidnapping charge before stuttering, “guilty.”
Defense attorney Richard Jones told Gabler that Patterson “wanted to enter a plea from the day we met him” and brushed off strategies presented to him, including trying to suppress his statements to investigators.
“He rejected all that and has decided this is what he wants to do,” Jones said.
Members of the Closs family and Patterson’s father and sister left the courthouse without commenting.
According to a criminal complaint, Patterson told authorities he decided Jayme “was the girl he was going to take” after he saw her getting on a school bus near her home. He told investigators he plotted carefully, including wearing all-black clothing, putting stolen license plates on his car and taking care to leave no fingerprints on his shotgun.
Jayme told police that the night of the abduction, the family dog’s barking woke her, and she went to wake her parents as a car came up the driveway. While her father went to the front door, Jayme and her mother hid in the bathroom, clutching each other in the bathtub, with the shower curtain pulled shut.
Patterson shot Jayme’s father as he entered the house, then found Jayme and her mother. He told detectives he wrapped tape around Jayme’s mouth and head, taped her hands behind her back and taped her ankles together, and then shot her mother in the head. He told police he dragged Jayme outside, threw her in the trunk of his car, and took her to his cabin, the complaint said.
During Jayme’s time in captivity, Patterson forced her to hide under a bed when he had friends over and penned her in with tote boxes and weights, warning that if she moved, “bad things could happen to her.” He also turned up the radio so visitors couldn’t hear her, according to the complaint.
Prosecutors in Douglas County, where Jayme was held, announced soon after Patterson’s arrest that they did not plan to bring charges in that county — a move seen as potentially sparing her from having details of her treatment becoming public. Patterson’s plea Wednesday increases the chances that those details will remain private.
Authorities searched for Jayme for months and collected more than 3,500 tips. On Jan. 10, Jayme escaped from the cabin while Patterson was away. She then flagged down a woman who was out walking a dog and pleaded for help. Patterson was arrested minutes later.
Patterson grew up in the cabin where he held Jayme. He wrote in his high school yearbook of plans to join the Marines after graduation, but he was kicked out barely a month after joining up. He struggled to hold down a job after that, working just a single day at a turkey plant in Barron in 2016 before quitting.
Jayme’s parents worked at the same turkey plant, but there’s nothing to indicate they knew Patterson. In the criminal complaint, Patterson told investigators he spotted Jayme while heading to work at a cheese factory where he quit after two days.
The day Jayme escaped, Patterson had applied online for a job at a liquor store with a resume that misrepresented his experience.
Laura Tancre, of nearby Star Prairie, said she was relieved by Patterson’s plea and “happy for the little girl.” Tancre, 57, worked at turkey plant with Jayme’s parents and called them “very nice people.”
“I think he should get life for killing both parents,” she said. “I’d hate for him to get out and be able to do it again.”
Associated Press writer Amy Forliti contributed from Minneapolis.
Hastings police said Wednesday they have identified two men they say drove a vehicle onto the soggy soccer fields at Veterans Athletic Complex and did “donuts.”
The maneuver caused “significant damage” to the grass turf a month before games are scheduled to be played.
The damage happened Sunday and was discovered Monday morning. It covers about 200,000 square feet of athletic turf on three of the four fields and on other areas.
“Willful damage to this degree is both frustrating and disheartening,” Chris Jenkins, parks and recreation director, said in a statement from the city.
Police did not identify the suspects or their vehicle, citing the ongoing investigation. The men have not been arrested, but the case will be submitted soon to the Dakota County attorney’s office for possible charging, Police Chief Bryan Schafer said.
Soon after the damage was found, police officers who were at a separate call made a connection to the vandalism.
City staff has met with contractors to examine the extent of the damage and request quotes for repair and restoration of the fields. Some sections have ruts 8 to 10 inches deep.
Parks and recreation staff is also working on assessing the impact on the upcoming spring sports season, the city said.
The user most affected will be the Hastings Futbol Club, a youth soccer organization with 580 players registered for both recreational and traveling soccer. The club has 125 games scheduled at Vets Park between April 30 and June 3.
City staff will remain in close communication with the club, Jenkins said.
“This damage will be corrected, and play will resume,” he said. “But it will require a lot of effort and expense to get there.”
Meanwhile, the city said it has begun filing an insurance claim.
Keaton Larson was bleeding from his neck and carrying a razor blade in one hand and a large kitchen knife in the other when police officers arrived at his house in Stillwater in November.
Body-worn camera footage released Wednesday by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in connection with the fatal officer-involved shooting on Nov. 21 shows Larson, 22, walking slowly down his front walk wearing a dark shirt and underwear. His feet are bare.
An evidence photo released March 27, 2019 shows Stillwater police officer Hunter Julien after the Nov. 21, 2018 shooting of Keaton Larson, 22, in Stillwater. Julien, a five-veteran of the Stillwater Police Department, acted in self-defense and was justified in using deadly force against Larson, the Washington County Attorneys office said Feb. 21, 2019. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension)
Stillwater police officer Hunter Julien, who was not wearing his body-worn camera, can be heard on other officers’ videos engaging with Larson for about 10 minutes.
“Drop the knife. We’re here to help you, man,” says Julien, a five-year veteran of the department. “Keaton, we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want to help you. I’ve been where you’re at, man. I’ve had really hard times in my life, and I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I did, and I’m really glad I stayed alive.”
Larson later can be seen throwing something on the ground and switching the black-handled knife from his left hand to his right hand; a metal razor blade from a utility knife was found in the grass in his front yard.
“Throw that one to the side,” Julien says in the video. “Throw it aside, brother. We can help you. The police aren’t bad, and I don’t want to have to hurt you, OK? Just do me a favor, man, just throw that knife down. Your life is going to change for the better if you do.”
Larson: “It’s not going to happen.”
Julien: “What can I do to help you?”
Larson: “Just shoot me.”
Julien: “I don’t want to have to shoot you, dude.”
Larson: “Please.”
Julien: “I don’t ever want to have to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt anybody. I just want to help people. That’s the reason I became a cop.”
A SUDDEN LUNGE
In the video footage, Julien can be heard continuing to talk to Larson, asking if he wanted to talk to anyone and sharing stories about his own personal struggles. Suddenly, Larson lunges toward the officers in the street.
Keaton Larson, 22, of Stillwater, wrote that he wished to die before a fatal confrontation with Stillwater police on Nov. 21, 2018.
“No! Drop the knife! Drop the knife!” the officers can be heard shouting, as Larson pursues them into the street with the knife in hand.
Three officers discharged their Tasers at the running Larson, “all to no avail,” according to a Washington County attorney’s office review of the shooting included in a 581-page report released Wednesday by the BCA.
They were: Laura McBroom, a one-year veteran of the Stillwater Police Department; Brian Tennessen, a two-year veteran of the Oak Park Heights Police Department, and Brittany Lepowsky, who has been with the Bayport Police Department for two years.
WHAT OFFICER TOLD INVESTIGATORS
In an interview with BCA agents, Julien said he attempted to get away from Larson, but “tripped and ended up on his back.”
A photo of the knife that Keaton Larson was holding Nov. 21, 2018, the night he was shot by a Stillwater police officer. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension)
“Julien stated he was scared, being ‘charged at’ by Larson, and thinking about his newborn child,” according to the BCA report. “(He) stated he continued to tell Larson that he did not want to shoot him. (He) advised while he was laying on his back he felt Larson was going to jump on top of him with the knife still in his hand and as a result he fired his weapon.”
He fired twice and hit Larson once in the chest. According to other officers on scene, Larson “was inside of 10 feet from Julien” when the officer fired.
In the video footage, Julien can be heard saying: “Why did he make me do that to him?”
Larson was handcuffed while lying on the ground; the handcuffs were removed before he was put in an ambulance, according to the video footage. He was taken to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater, where he died as a result of a single gunshot wound to the chest.
LARSON’S DEATH WISH
After the shooting, BCA agents recovered a Facebook post written by Larson just before the 911 call.
“What’s the point of living,” he wrote. “I’ve never felt so alone and sick in the head, but everyone keeps telling me to fight through the demons in my head and stay alive. … The only thing I wish for is death.”
BCA agents also searched Larson’s phone and found two internet searches from Nov. 20 about bleeding to death from cut arteries.
Larson, a 2015 graduate of Stillwater Area High School, worked as a cashier at Fleet Farm in Oakdale.
In addition to not wearing his body camera, Julien’s squad-car camera was not activated during the time of the shooting. He told BCA investigators that he “accidentally left his (body-worn) camera in his squad car” and that “he believes he shut it off when he arrived on scene.”
Uniformed officers are supposed to wear their cameras on duty, Police Chief John Gannaway said Wednesday.
“Officer Julien was not wearing his body worn camera at the time of the incident, but the other three officers on scene were wearing and had activated theirs,” he said.
When asked if Julien was disciplined, Gannaway said the issue was addressed internally. He would not elaborate.
He was 21, with an unremarkable background, a spotty work history and no criminal record.
He observed a girl getting on a school bus, stalked her and meticulously planned his crime. He abducted the girl, throwing her in the trunk of his car after brutally murdering her parents. He imprisoned the girl in his home, turning a radio up to drown out any possible sound when family members came to visit.
Jake Patterson’s crimes are hard to wrap one’s mind around.
Even for an expert in deviant criminal behavior.
“To go from a few areas of rejection … to this extreme is very rare,” said Robert Geffner. “Which is why this particular situation doesn’t match most of the others we read about or hear about.”
Although he lives in San Diego, Geffner was like so many transfixed by the story of 13-year-old Jayme Closs’ Jan. 10 escape from Patterson’s home near Gordon, Wis., after she had been held captive for 88 days.
He had more than a casual interest. Geffner is president of the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Institute in San Diego and is an adjunct professor in the California School of Professional Psychology with specialties that include violent offenders, sex offenders and emotional abuse.
In a telephone interview in the days following Patterson’s arrest, Geffner said what was known about him didn’t fit the patterns that emerge in criminal deviance.
“First, you don’t have any contact that anybody knows of ahead of time … which is very unusual,” Geffner said. “You have a complete stranger who evidently decides for some unknown reason to attack and then goes to very extreme (measures) … to essentially eliminate any contacts for her. Her family is basically destroyed in front of her.”
Geffner made it clear that he wasn’t conducting a long-distance psychological evaluation. But the behavior was so atypical, Geffner said, it would be difficult for anyone to understand.
What’s known of Patterson’s past also doesn’t fit any patterns, Geffner said.
“At least according to the records that have been publicized, no history of violence,” he said. “Normally, you would see either some type of delinquency or acting out or violence toward animals or some type of what we would call antisocial behavior.”
Mental health professionals have a long way to go when it comes to predicting violent behavior, Geffner said. But the risk factors that are known — someone with a history of violence, someone with serious mental health or psychotic episodes, someone with significant trauma issues, someone who had been exposed to significant violence — don’t seem to apply to what is known about Patterson.
It appears from what is known that Patterson terrorized Jayme to the point that she experienced “learned helplessness” or “learned hopelessness,” Geffner said. He noted that Patterson felt confident enough to have family over for Christmas while keeping Jayme under a bed.
Those circumstances make Jayme’s escape all the more remarkable, Geffner said.
Although the good news of that bold escape after Jayme survived such a horrific crime made her story a national sensation, the underlying role of violence in our society doesn’t get enough consideration, Geffner said.
“We don’t pay enough attention to the violence that occurs in homes and communities on a daily basis around our country,” he said. “We’re getting desensitized to the violence in our society, and to me that’s a very dangerous road to be on.”
Authorities say a man who struggled with police during an arrest outside a Rochester grocery store has died.
Police said Thursday an altercation happened about 9 p.m. outside the Cub Foods store after the man was pulled over in his pickup truck for numerous traffic violations.
The man tried to drive away, but the officer on the scene was able to get the vehicle to stop. Police Chief Jim Franklin tells KTTC-TV that once the vehicle was finally stopped a physical struggle occurred, the man was apprehended and became unresponsive.
Franklin says lifesaving efforts at the scene were unsuccessful. Body camera video has been turned over to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Two women were stabbed in a Roseville motel room early Thursday morning and a suspect has been arrested, according to police.
The women were taken by ambulance to a local hospital where they were treated for multiple wounds. Roseville police said their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
At about 6:45 a.m. officers responded to a Motel 6 at 2300 Cleveland Avenue in Roseville after witnesses reported a female covered in blood running out of a motel room, according to police.
Officials found two women — 24 and 20 years old — with multiple stabbing injuries.
Police said the 24-year-old woman’s ex-husband — a 23-year-old from Eden Prairie — came to the motel and stabbed them. The 24-year-old’s young child was with the women but not injured.
The ex-husband fled on foot and police arrested him a few blocks from the motel without incident, officials said. The knife was found in the motel room.
Law enforcement officials are investigating what led to the stabbing. Anyone with additional information about this incident is asked to call Roseville police at 651-792-7008. Online tips may be submitted at cityofroseville.com/3194/Crime-Tips.
After St. Paul police officers heard at least 10 rapid gunshots, they pulled a car over and found the driver wearing a ski mask and bullet-proof vest.
Plus, there were three guns hidden in the car, according to police. Officers arrested three men in the car on suspicion of illegal gun possession on Wednesday.
St. Paul officers regularly recover stolen guns or find people with guns when they’re not legally permitted to have them.
But incidents on Tuesday and Wednesday were out of the ordinary, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.
On Tuesday night, when a driver fled officers, police found a machine gun-style firearm and a pistol in the vehicle, according to the criminal complaint. Three additional weapons — including AR-15 and AK-47 rifles — were found along the driver’s route.
“It is unusual, both with the number of guns and the type of weapons that were recovered being very dangerous,” Ernster said. “Our officers did a great job in confronting the suspects — no force was used in either arrest — and getting these weapons off the street.”
THREE STOLEN GUNS HIDDEN IN CAR
At 1:30 a.m. Wednesday in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood, officers at Minnehaha Avenue and Dale Street heard multiple gunshots and then saw a silver Audi sedan run a stop stop at Minnehaha and Arundel Street, according to a police report.
Police pulled over the car and saw the driver, 20-year-old Brandon Deshone Johnson, wearing a ski mask and bullet-proof vest, Ernster said.
Officers found three guns hidden in the car’s sunroof area and a check of their serial numbers showed they had been reported stolen.
Police also found an empty shell casing on the car’s trunk and they are investigating whether the men in the car were connected to an incident of shots fired.
A home on Lafond Avenue, near Dale Street, was struck by a bullet, which didn’t appear to go in the house, Ernster said. No one was injured.
Through mid-March, reports of shots fired were down 16 percent in St. Paul, compared with the same period last year. But recent days have been busy for police with gunfire reports.
Deante Andre Kennebrew, left, Cartrell Turner, center, and Brandon Deshone Johnson.
After Wednesday’s traffic stop, officers arrested Deante Andre Kennebrew, of St. Paul; Cartrell Turner, of Woodbury; and Johnson, of Eagan, on suspicion of possession of stolen property.
Turner and Johnson, both 20, also were arrested for possession of a firearm by an ineligible person; state law requires people to be at least 21 to obtain a permit to carry a gun.
Kennebrew, 27, was booked into the Ramsey County jail on suspicion of firearm possession by a felon.
FIVE GUNS FOUND AFTER DRIVER FLEES FROM POLICE
About six hours earlier, police responded in the North End Tuesday on a report of people in a parked silver Jeep playing loud music and smoking marijuana for nearly an hour.
As an officer talked to people in the Jeep on Stinson Street, near Mackubin Street, at about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, the driver became upset and sped away, Ernster said.
Police were on the lookout for the Jeep, and an officer in the Summit-University area spotted it at St. Anthony Avenue and Dale Street. As the squad approached, the Jeep drove between vehicles waiting at the stoplight and struck both of them, Ernster said.
The driver fled on Dale Street, Iglehart Avenue and Kent Street before officers lost sight of the Jeep. It was found crashed at Western Avenue and Holly Street, and police arrested the driver, Lavelle Darvon Brown, 27, of South St. Paul, and a 28-year-old female passenger.
Lavelle Darvon Brown
An MP 40 machine gun-style firearm and several boxes of ammunition in different calibers, along with a gun safe, were under the driver’s seat. A .45-caliber pistol, magazine and box of ammunition were inside the safe, according to the criminal complaint filed Thursday against Brown.
While officers were at the scene, a man called 911 to report seeing a weapon in the road at Dale Street and Iglehart Avenue. Police found an AK-47 rifle with a pistol grip, Ernster said.
Officers reviewed squad camera footage and it showed the AK-47 being thrown from the vehicle, the complaint said.
Another man called police to report finding a Louis Vuitton bag on his front steps at Holly Avenue and Mackubin Street, also along the Jeep’s route. Inside the bag was a .45-caliber handgun and several magazines with bullets. Officers also found a small bag of white powder, suspected to be cocaine, the complaint said.
Police canvassing the area later recovered an AR-15 in the road at Kent Street and Marshall Avenue.
Brown didn’t talk to police after his arrest, the complaint said.
The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Brown with two counts of possession of ammunition or a firearm by a felon.
He is barred from having guns or ammunition because of three felony domestic assault convictions in 2010 and 2011, and a juvenile case for third-degree assault, according to the complaint. He also pleaded guilty in 2016 to being a felon in possession of a gun.
Prosecutors declined to charge the woman in the Jeep because there was not evidence to prove felony-level charges, according to a Ramsey County attorney’s office spokesman.
A Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy admitted to driving while intoxicated while she was off duty last December.
Amanda Rose Skelly, 26, made the admission when she pleaded guilty to a fourth-degree DWI charge in Ramsey County District Court earlier this week.
The conviction is a misdemeanor. A gross-misdemeanor drinking and driving-related charge were dismissed.
Amanda Rose Skelly
Skelly was sentenced to 10 days in jail and two years of probation after entering her plea. She also was ordered to get a chemical dependency evaluation and attend treatment if its deemed necessary.
Skelly, of Maplewood, was arrested in early December in White Bear Lake after a breath test during a traffic stop showed she had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.21, according to the criminal complaint filed against her.
Skelly was pulled over for a broken taillight on White Bear Avenue as she was leaving the parking lot of a sports bar in a Chevy Impala about 1:20 a.m., the charges said.
Skelly admitted she had been drinking after the officer who stopped her detected alcohol on her breath and noticed she was slurring her words, according to court documents.
She was placed on administrative leave after she was charged. Her current employment status was not available.
Neither her attorney, Stephen Foertsch, nor the Ramsey County sheriff’s office returned calls for comment.
Skelly was hired by the sheriff’s office as a correctional officer in June 2015, and she became a full-time deputy in March 2016.
The man accused of trying to run Olympic gold medalist Jessie Diggins off the road in Afton last fall pleaded guilty this week to a petty misdemeanor charge in Washington County District Court.
George Frost, 38, of St. Mary’s Point, pleaded guilty to nuisance on a public roadway in connection with his Oct. 28 encounter with Diggins, 27, and Stillwater Area High School cross-country ski coach Kris Hansen. The women were threatened during a three-hour roller-skiing training session in Diggins’ hometown of Afton.
Frost was ordered to pay a $300 fine and $87 in court fees and must send Diggins and Hansen a letter of apology, said Fritz Knaak, the prosecutor for Afton.
Frost is “relieved to have the matter put behind him,” said his attorney, Justin Schiks, speaking on his behalf.
“I think there was a fair resolution for both sides in this case,” said Schiks, a defense attorney in Woodbury. “Thankfully, no one was hurt.”
Knaak, too, said the case had a “reasonably good disposition.”
“I know that a lot of people were upset that it happened at all,” Knaak said. “They are furious at this guy. What he did was wrong. For me, the important thing was that he admitted he was wrong.”
The incident happened near 15th Street and Neal Avenue South in Afton.
“We were both roller-skiing on a wide stretch of road that usually doesn’t have any traffic, and the part of the road we were on, we could see 100 meters in front of us and 100 meters behind us,” Diggins told the Pioneer Press at the time, noting that she and Hansen were wearing neon so they were visible to oncoming traffic.
“We saw the SUV coming, so we moved over single file on the side of the road and he buzzed us going way too fast, (so) that I could feel the wind rocking me sideways. He could’ve killed us.”
After that initial encounter, Frost, driving a 2010 Ford Explorer, came to a complete stop, then started driving next to them as they tried to pass, Diggins said.
“If we sped up, he sped up. If we slowed down, he slowed down,” Diggins said. “We couldn’t get back to the side of the road. We were forced into the middle of the road and at this point we were going up a hill, so if a car came over the other side of the hill, it would have almost no reaction time.
“That was what really freaked me out. You just don’t know what’s going to happen at that point.”
Diggins wrote the license plate number in the dirt, she said, while Hansen called 911 on her cellphone. Deputies responded and tracked down the driver.
The city, after learning of the incident, decided to press charges.
“It was very important to us that she came forward with these charges because it would have been very easy for her not to,” Knaack said. “We’re deeply appreciative of that. The city has basically redoubled its efforts as a result in enforcement because it is important — a lot of people do use those roads for things other than cars.”
Police responded to two shootings in St. Paul Thursday night, including one that left a man with multiple gunshot wounds.
The first incident took place around 7:30 p.m. in the area of Sims Avenue and Arcade Street, according to Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.
Officers responded to a report of an assault and found a 30-year-old man with several gunshot wounds, Ernster said.
The man told officers he was assaulted by several males after getting into an argument. He said one of the assailants shot at him about five times, according to police.
He was taken by ambulance to Regions Hospital. His injuries are not expected to be life-threatening.
So far, no arrests have been made in the case. Police do not believe the incident was random, Ernster said.
In the second incident, a 30-year-old man was dropped off at Regions Hospital around 9 p.m. with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
He told police he was walking on the 1800 block of Seventh Street East when a male shot him without warning. The injuries were not life-threatening.
Police have not made any arrests in the case, which remains under investigation.
A candidate for St. Paul City Council was arrested Thursday on suspicion of felony theft following a dispute with his recent girlfriend over a car they maintained in common.
Officers with the St. Paul Police Department were called to a grocery and deli in the 700 block of Payne Avenue shortly after noon on Thursday, where a woman reported that Alexander Bourne had her car keys and refused to give them back.
Officers were able to determine that the car was registered to the woman, who had dated Bourne. Officers encouraged Bourne to file a civil complaint if he felt he should continue to have access to the vehicle.
Alexander Bourne. (Courtesy of Alexander Bourne)
“They advised him numerous times that it was a civil issue, and he would need to turn the keys over to her,” said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a police spokesman. “He refused.”
Bourne was arrested on suspicion of felony theft and transported to the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center, according to a police incident report.
He was released at 10 p.m. Thursday pending further investigation, according to the detention center.
Bourne released the following statement on the matter Friday:
“Because the extraordinary work by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office and St. Paul Police Department, this matter was resolved within hours. As this time, I am exploring legal avenues to have my vehicle returned to me so that we can continue to make the East Side more communal together.”
Bourne is a candidate for the seat representing St. Paul’s 6th Ward, a position recently vacated by longtime council member Dan Bostrom.
The judge overseeing the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed Australian woman has set tight restrictions for how the courtroom will be run and ruled Friday that members of the public and media will not view graphic evidence that is presented to the jury.
Mohamed Noor, 33, goes on trial Monday in the July 2017 shooting death of Justine Ruszcyzyk Damond, a 40-year-old life coach who called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home. The case drew international attention. Noor is charged with murder and manslaughter.
Hennepin County District Judge Kathryn Quaintance ruled Friday that body camera footage recorded after the shooting, medical examiner’s reports and other evidence that could be graphic will be shown only to the jury, attorneys and herself, according to local media reports. She cited a strong media interest in the case, and said she was preserving Damond’s privacy.
“It’s inflammatory, potentially,” Quaintance said, according to the Star Tribune. “It’s emotional and it shows the deceased in extremely compromising situations, and I don’t see any value in that being shown outside the people directly involved in the case.”
But Mark Anfinson, an attorney for the Minnesota Newspaper Association, told The Associated Press that concerns about privacy or inflammatory material aren’t reasons to block access to evidence. Without a compelling reason, if Quaintance doesn’t at least allow for access to the evidence shortly after it is shown in court, Anfinson said, “That’s just unconstitutional.”
Anfinson said that once the jury has seen the evidence, showing it to the public will not have any impact on Noor’s right to a fair trial.
An attorney for several media organizations sent a letter to Hennepin County District Chief Judge Ivy Bernhardson on Friday, requesting to meet as soon as possible to address access issues.
Graphic evidence is often shown in high-profile cases, including the trial of former St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez, who was acquitted in the death of Philando Castile. In that case, the public viewed video footage of the shooting as it was presented to jurors.
In another big Minnesota case, jurors and the public listened to a chilling audio recording of homeowner Byron Smith killing two teens who broke into his home, and viewed autopsy photos of the victims.
Quaintance has set other tight courtroom restrictions for the trial. Despite requests to hold the trial in one of the courthouse’s larger rooms, she is holding it in a room that only has about two dozen seats. Eight seats have been set aside for the media and 11 for the public. Additional seats were set aside for family members and a sketch artist. Video and audio will be streamed into an overflow room.
She has also clamped down on security, requiring a secondary level of screening outside her courtroom and barring all electronic recording devices from the floor.
The Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists called the restrictions “overreach and an unnecessary infringement of First Amendment rights.” They called on the county and state court administrators to move the trial to the largest courtroom possible.
Bradford Colbert, an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, said the district court has an enormous amount of discretion in these circumstances.
“The defendant has a right to the public trial. The question is, what right does the public have outside of the defendant? If the defendant wanted to close it off, that might be one thing, but the public has a right to access as well,” Colbert said.
A Minneapolis man is accused of attempting to stab his girlfriend to death as well as the woman’s friend at a motel in Roseville early Thursday morning.
Axmed Maxamed Hilowle, 23, was charged with two counts of first-degree attempted premeditated murder, according to the criminal complaint filed against him Friday in Ramsey County District Court.
Axmed Maxamed Hilowle, 23
Both women were injured in the incident but are expected to survive.
Roseville police responded to a Motel 6 on the 2300 block of Cleveland Avenue in Roseville about 6:45 a.m.Thursday on a report that a woman was on the premises covered in blood, according to the charges.
Multiple 911 callers also reported that two women were stabbed at the motel.
Police found one woman in the parking lot covered in blood from multiple stab wounds. The 20-year-old had been stabbed in her left shoulder, right arm, her spine and her head.
She told police she’d been stabbed by her friend’s boyfriend.
Officers found a second woman bleeding inside one of the motel’s rooms. The 24-year-old had stab wounds on her left arm, head, chest, lower back and neck.
A steak knife with a red handle was found on the floor.
The 24-year-old told police that Hilowle had been abusive to her in their relationship and that she was staying at the motel with her son until she could find new housing, according to the charges. Her friend offered to stay with them for a few nights.
At about 5 a.m. Thursday, she said Hilowle texted her and told her he didn’t have anywhere to stay and was freezing and asked that she give him back his car, which she had, the woman told police, according to the complaint.
He took an Uber to the motel and she met him in the vehicle near the front of the establishment to provide her more protection, she reported to officers.
Once inside the vehicle, Hilowle pinned her against the center console and prevented her from leaving, charges say.
He drove the car toward the back of the motel and followed her up to their room. After spending a brief time in a bathroom, Hilowle emerged with a knife and began attacking her friend, according to the complaint.
The woman said Hilowle was mad at her friend because he believed she was preventing her from reconciling with him, according to the charges.
As he was stabbing her friend, Hilowle’s girlfriend said she intervened, and he began stabbing her instead.
The friend managed to escape the room and later told officers she didn’t think she would survive the attack as Hilowle told them he intended to kill them both before killing himself, the complaint said.
Officers located Hilowle on foot near the motel. As they approached, he got on the ground and was arrested without incident, authorities say.
He told officers what he did was “totally wrong” and asked if the women were OK, the complaint said.
No attorney was listed for Hilowle in court records. He is expected to make his first appearance on the charges Monday.
A tip from a tow truck driver helped Hastings police find two men suspected of damaging athletic fields by driving in wet grass Sunday.
Asa Alden Soine, 27, and Edward Lee Mears, 26, both from Hastings, were each charged Friday with one count of first-degree criminal damage to property. Officials estimate it will cost $137,000 to replace the 200,000 square feet of sod at the athletic complex soccer fields at Veterans Park.
Edward Mears and Asa Soine
At 6:50 p.m. March 25, officers responded to a disturbance call at a Hastings residence. While there, an officer noticed a 2003 Ford Explorer parked in the driveway. It was covered in mud and grass and was damaged.
Since the police department had found a piece of a damaged Ford vehicle on the soccer fields, the officer decided to have the Explorer towed for further investigation.
When the tow truck driver showed up, he told the officer that he’d towed this same vehicle earlier that day because it was involved in a DWI incident. He said it was covered in mud then, too, mud that was fresh and still dripping.
Officers learned that the driver, Soine, had been arrested for DWI in the Explorer at 12:19 a.m. The stop occurred at Ravenna Trail and 200th Street about 8 miles from the soccer fields.
At the time of the arrest, Mears was a passenger in the Explorer, according to the officer’s report.
Police interviewed both men, who gave two versions of the story. Both denied any knowledge of the damage to the soccer fields.
Officers viewed video from the car wash, from a business near the soccer fields and from the Veteran’s Home that put the Explorer on the property and both men in the vehicle.
The plastic piece left behind at the scene matched the damage on the SUV, as did the paint from the handicapped sign Soine allegedly hit.
The two men made their first appearance Friday in the Dakota County District Court in Hastings and bail was set for $5,000 with conditions.
If convicted, the charge carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in jail and a maximum $10,000 fine.
Soine’s next court date is May 8 and Mears’ will appear May 16.
THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn. — A man has been formally charged with arson and murder after a woman’s body was found in the aftermath of a Thief River Falls house fire Wednesday.
Court documents reveal the woman’s hands and feet were bound, her head was covered in fabric and a power supply cord was wrapped around her neck. The fire was allegedly started where her body was found.
Devon Pulczinski
Devon James Pulczinski, 23, appeared Friday morning in Pennington County District Court.
Investigators had not released the woman’s name Friday afternoon.
Court documents show investigators had been watching the apartment at 307 1/2 Arnold Ave. S. for at least a month for an ongoing drug investigation. Three people were arrested inside the home March 22.
The building is split into two apartments, one on the upper level and one on the lower level, court documents said. The downstairs resident reported a fire around 5:30 p.m. and allegedly told investigators he saw a white Chevrolet Equinox leaving from the alley just before smoke began to pour through the building.
The victim’s grandmother dropped her off at the apartment to visit Pulczinski, ran an errand and returned at 4:30 p.m., the document said. She told investigators she texted her granddaughter to let her know she was waiting and received a response, but a call after went unanswered. She waited for about an hour then she allegedly saw smoke coming from the home.
Firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze, and the court document said they notified officers there was a body inside.
A woman’s body was allegedly found face down on the kitchen floor. The affidavit said her “hands and feet were bound, her head was covered with fabric” and a power supply cord was wrapped around her neck. There was allegedly a terry cloth towel on the small of her back that tested positive for ignitable liquids.
Investigators found a gas can in the driveway, the affidavit said. It’s believed the fire was purposefully ignited in two rooms; one fire started over a pile of furniture in the living room and the other “centered around and on top of the body,” the affidavit said.
John Monreal allegedly told police Pulczinski was walking around and seemed desperate to find a ride to the Twin Cities Wednesday evening. He allegedly offered to pick Pulczinski up and notify officers of his location so they could arrest him.
Monreal’s car was stopped on the 100 block of East Eighth Street at 9:37 p.m., and the affidavit said Pulczinski was taken into custody for questioning. He allegedly told officers, “they had nothing to do with it, it was all me.”
He requested a lawyer when brought to the law enforcement center, the affidavit said.
Officers allegedly found a rifle and 16 swords in a pickup truck belonging to Pulczinski.
An investigator said there were text messages sent from jail-issued cellphones Tuesday and Wednesday between 27-year-old James Richard Shaugabay and Pulczinski. Court documents show Shaugabay was arrested with two others March 22 after Pine to Prairie Drug Task Force Officers searched the apartment he shared with Pulczinski.
The affidavit said Pulczinski told Shaugabay Wednesday “ima come back I’m gonna get u out somehow but after today they are gonna be looking for me so I gotta hide for a bit.”
A court document said investigators have been watching the apartment for over a month and found numerous swords and nearly two ounces of methamphetamine during a March 22 search.
Pulczinski was not home during the search but Shaugabay, 38-year-old James Alan Hanson and 26-year-old Peyton Marie Stuhaug were arrested.
Drugs and over $2,100 were allegedly found on Hanson, and there was a drug ledger in Stuhaug’s purse. In total, there were just over 52 grams of methamphetamine in the apartment, according to the court document.
Shaugabay, Hanson and Stuhaug are still in the Pennington County Jail facing drug-related charges.
Official charges were filed Friday against Pulczinski and he is being held on a $1 million bond with conditions.
If convicted of second-degree murder, he could face up to 40 years in prison. The first-degree arson charge holds a maximum penalty of 20 years behind bars.
Pulczinski is scheduled to appear in court again April 8.
