Minneapolis officials say they have discovered the city has roughly 1,700 rape kits that have never been tested, with some dating back 30 years.

The number revealed Friday is nearly nine times more than the 194 untested kits the city disclosed it had in 2015.

Deputy Minneapolis Police Chief Erick Fors said the untested kits were discovered in July when the department was doing an inventory.

He estimated it will likely take two years to get them tested.

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo told reporters there’s no explanation for the discrepancy in the numbers, but there was a failure in auditing and processing that is unacceptable.

He vowed to work with department agencies and advocates to ensure the kits are tested and victims are notified in a compassionate way.

The Hennepin County attorney’s office says anyone with questions about the untested kits and the criminal investigations into their assaults may contact the following:

• Vernona Boswell, Hennepin County attorney’s office sexual assault victim advocate: 612-348-6592.
• Liliana, advocate at the Sexual Violence Center, 612-871-5100, Ext.19, or the crisis line at 612-871-5111.

Deputized, ditched and now re-sworn: a Ramsey County sheriff’s office employee who once claimed he was unfairly fired by former sheriff Matt Bostrom for his ties to then-political opponent Bob Fletcher, and lost a lawsuit over it, has now been rehired by the new sheriff, Bob Fletcher.

The old lawsuit involving Deputy Joe Miller, who was sworn in for a second time this September, received prominent media coverage after he was dismissed from the force in 2011.

Both Miller and a second deputy, Alex Graham, filed the 2013 suit claiming Bostrom fired them because of their support for Fletcher during the campaign.

A jury disagreed, ruling that political retaliation had nothing to do with the dismissals.

Bostrom’s defense argued that the deputies’ background checks included a “forest of red flags.” Those alleged flags were redacted from public view, but testimony at trial disclosed run-ins with police, alcohol-related incidents and damning reviews from previous employers, including Ramsey County sheriff’s supervisors they had worked for.

The defense also argued that the checks had never been adequately completed; both were hired in the days after Fletcher lost the 2010 election, but before Bostrom assumed command. Both supported Fletcher in the campaign.

Fletcher testified at the trial that the hirings were not “fast-tracked,” as defense claimed, and called them qualified.

Miller did not return a call for comment placed through the sheriff’s office.

“Both those guys have proven themselves. Alex has got objective proof that he’s an outstanding officer. Yesterday he got promoted to (acting) sergeant,” Fletcher said Friday. “The jury was obviously wrong based on Alex’s performance at the St. Paul police department.”

Graham has been highly-lauded since he joined the St. Paul Police Department in 2016. At the St. Paul Police Department, Graham was named in April as runner-up for Officer of the Year. He received three Life-Saving Awards from the police department last year for giving people aid after shootings.

He was also recently at the center of a controversial video in which he was filmed arresting a 13-year-old girl at a University Avenue UPS store. The video prompted St. Paul mayor Melvin Carter to call for an internal affairs investigation.

After the 2013 trial, Miller returned to his former job as an analyst in the department’s East Metro Real-time Information Center.

“In the last eight years he’s received several accommodations for work as an analyst. He’s just done an outstanding job helping solve crime in the east metro,” Fletcher said.

When asked about his understanding of Miller’s past, Fletcher said, “We’re talking back when he was a teen, early 20s. He might’ve drank too much at one time.”

When asked whether Miller volunteered in his campaign this time around, Fletcher said, “I believe he was a supporter, but did he do any work? No.”

During the trial, Bostrom’s attorney noted Miller had failed multiple psychological evaluations before passing one.

This time around, Fletcher said Miller didn’t fail any and passed again.

On Sept. 14, Graham posted a photo on Facebook with a picture of himself, Miller and Fletcher, saying “Congrats to Deputy Joe Miller … It was my privilage (sic) to attend your swearing in last night.”

The post was liked by numerous members of law enforcement, including St Paul police chief Todd Axtell.

As friends and family said goodbye to 17-year-old Da’Qwan Jones-Morris on Saturday, Rev. Al Gallmon had a message for the youth attending the funeral.

“Da’Qwan should be alive right now,” he said. “I’m not here to preach against guns, but I’m here to say we need to be responsible.”

Jones-Morris, a senior and football captain at Henry Sibley High School in Mendota Heights, died Nov. 6 after he was accidentally shot in the chest by a friend who was playing with a stolen gun.

“We need you to be light,” Gallmon said during the funeral at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Minneapolis. “We need you to be salt, so these accidents don’t happen anymore.”

Gallmon invited the teens, who made up over half of the 400-plus mourners, to come up front, place their hands on the casket and commit to making their world a brighter place.

Jones-Morris’ senior pictures, taken just a week before his death, were used for the funeral program.

“Da’Qwan was the go-to family babysitter and created connections with younger kids,” said his mother, Monica Jones. “He also had a big appetite to match his big heart. He was my beloved son; we miss him terribly.”

Jones said she filled her children’s days with activities such as attending St. Paul’s Freedom School during the summer, choir practice at the church and sports to keep them on track and off the streets. Jones-Morris had been filling out college applications shortly before his death and had planned to attend a Minnesota college.

The high school football team’s coaches said at the funeral that they had been impressed with his physical abilities. He joined the team as a junior and quickly became a co-captain.

“The kid was just so infectious with his personality,” said assistant coach Peter Usset. “He was a kid who was cool with everybody.”

Assistant coach Matt Malmberg said Jones-Morris took the team’s motto of “family” to heart.

“The growth that he made was amazing to see,” he said. “Everyone loved him on the team.”

According to the juvenile complaint filed in Ramsey County, Jones-Morris was playing the “Madden” football video game with friends on Nov. 6 at his house in the 100 block of East Annapolis Street on St. Paul’s West Side.

Tevis Devol Staples, 16, took out a gun he reportedly had stolen out of a vehicle in late October. He unloaded the firearm and handed it to a 15-year-old sitting nearby, who proceeded to play with it — pulling the trigger and pointing it around — before handing it back to Staples, also a Sibley student.

Staples said he loaded the gun and handed it back to the younger teen, telling him to place it in his bag. Then he heard “a loud shot” and discovered that the 15-year-old had accidentally shot Jones-Morris.

Staples and the 15-year-old were charged in Ramsey County District Court with separate counts of second-degree manslaughter.

Jones-Morris was honored Saturday with poetry written by friends, songs sung by his youth choir and several friends and family who shared their memories of the kid with the “joyful spirit.”

A GoFundMe page titled “Gone but never forgotten” was started to help the family with funeral costs.

Two people died in a house fire Saturday night in Spring Lake Park, according to authorities.

Police and fire officials at 8:51 p.m. responded to reports by neighbors that a house on the 500 block of 82nd Avenue Northeast was on fire, the Anoka County sheriff’s office said.

When police and fire arrived, the home’s attached garage was fully engulfed in flames that had also spread to the house.

When the fire was extinguished, officials found two bodies inside the home. The victims’ names were being withheld pending notification of family members.

A man was fatally shot near the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis on Saturday night, and authorities are asking for the public’s help in the investigation.

Police at 10:13 p.m. received reports of a shooting on the 600 block of Main Street Southeast, according to a news release. The location is near the Mississippi River and just southeast of the historic Stone Arch Bridge.

Officers found a man outdoors “gravely injured” from what appeared to be a gunshot wound. He appeared to be in his 30s.

Officers administered first aid until paramedics arrived. The man was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center, where he died a short time later, police said.

Police had announced no arrests as of Sunday morning. The shooting marks Minneapolis’ 40th homicide this year.

Tips can be shared at CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or at CrimeStoppersMN.com. Tips are anonymous and may lead to a financial reward.

LA CROSSE, Wis. — Prosecutors have accused a Minnesota man of using a Porsche as a battering ram to get his Nissan Altima out of an Onalaska impound lot.

The La Crosse Tribune reports that Benjamin Gjere of Lanesboro was charged Thursday with operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, property damage, theft and bail jumping.

According to investigators, Gjere’s 2019 Altima was impounded Nov. 6 after he was pulled over.

Surveillance video shows Gjere and an unidentified accomplice on the lot Sunday.

An unlocked 2012 Porsche with the keys inside was parked behind the Altima. The video shows the Porsche crashing through the lot’s fence and a fence of a nearby house. The video shows the Altima driving through the holes in the fences.

Gjere was pulled over in Winona County, Minn., about an hour later.

The call came in to the Woodbury police on Wednesday: A female prostitute had been assaulted by her “pimp” at a hotel in Woodbury and was being treated for injuries at nearby Woodwinds Hospital.

Two days later, the man, Calvin K. Caldwell, 32, of St. Paul, was charged in Washington County District Court in Stillwater sex trafficking and promotion of prostitution at hotels in Woodbury and Oakdale. He is being held at the Washington County Jail. Bail was set $500,000.

The caller reported they were concerned for the safety and welfare of the 26-year-old woman. They said her “pimp” — who goes by “Junior,” “Buddha,” or “Little Buddha” — had assaulted her prior to his arrest on Tuesday on suspicion of driving-while-intoxicated.

Caldwell was arrested by the Minnesota State Patrol after troopers were dispatched to a call of a “physical domestic” in a vehicle. According to police, the woman had visible injuries but refused to cooperate with authorities at the traffic stop and later at the hospital.

Woodbury police detective learned that Caldwell and the woman had rented a hotel room in Woodbury and that management had “received a complaint of a loud domestic/fighting coming from the room,” the complaint states. “Hotel management also noted that (the woman) had significant injuries to her face.”

Police in Woodbury on Thursday found advertisements on a commercial-sex website that featured the woman and sent a text to the listed phone number. The undercover detective was provided the location of the Woodbury hotel where the woman had been injured; he agreed to pay $400 for a “full service” for one hour, the complaint states.

The undercover detective then was asked whether he “could change the location to another hotel because the hotel staff in Woodbury would ask the guests for their identification,” the complaint states.

The detective arranged to meet her at an apartment in Oakdale at 11:30 a.m. Officers observed Caldwell and the woman leave the hotel and drive to the apartment in Oakdale. After he dropped her at the door, officers stopped Caldwell and arrested him. He told police “he was there to pick up marijuana and denied being involved with prostitution,” the complaint states.

The woman said she was a sex worker and is involved in a romantic relationship with Caldwell, but that he “does not force her to do it.” She was provided resources and released, according to the complaint.

Based on commercial-sex advertisements and Caldwell’s “social-media history,” officials believe Caldwell “trafficked” the woman in several states in 2019. “It is believed that the defendant benefited financially from the trafficking of (her),” the complaint states.

Caldwell has an extensive criminal record, including prior convictions for human trafficking and soliciting prostitution.

“This is another example of a case where the victim of trafficking would continue to be victimized — unless and until proactive intervention by law enforcement,” Washington County Pete Orput said in a prepared statement. “Victims of trafficking are located in every community, and it is our job to locate these victims and investigate these crimes. Our office will continue to work with law enforcement to investigate and aggressively prosecute these cases.”

Robbinsdale police say a thief stole a vehicle with a 4-year-old girl in the back seat.

The car theft occurred Monday at a Hy-Vee gas station on Bottineau Boulevard. The girl was able to get out of the car unharmed when the suspect briefly stopped the vehicle a few blocks away.

Robbinsdale Police Chief Jim Franzen said a woman was putting air in her tires around 7:30 a.m. when a man hopped in her vehicle with the girl in the back seat and took off.

The man stopped the vehicle, and security video shows the child opening the door and getting out before the man fled.

The Star Tribune reported the suspect was not found, but police found the car abandoned in neighboring Golden Valley.

Police have closed their investigation into past finances of St. Paul’s Grand Avenue Business Association, and prosecutors declined to file charges.

The inquiry was launched in May, after the initial cancellation of the association’s Grand Old Day annual June parade and festival.

Police were investigating a report that “there had been a mismanagement of GABA’s money” by the past executive director, Jon Perrone, according to a police report.

Perrone, GABA’s executive director from 2014 to 2016, said Monday he never took any money from GABA that he wasn’t authorized to.

After an investigation by St. Paul Police and the U.S. Secret Service, an assistant U.S. Attorney for Minnesota informed police “this case does not meet the minimum qualifications for prosecution” by their office, said a police report.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office told police the three-year statute of limitations “has expired for any suspected criminal activity,” the report continued, noting the case was being closed because prosecution was declined.

Perrone said he did not know he was the subject of the inquiry and was not contacted by any investigators; there are no references in St. Paul Police reports to them interviewing him.

“I’m absolutely shocked and honestly kind of sick to my stomach,” Perrone said. “No one reached out to me. I literally gave my heart and soul to that organization and those people.”

With the closing of the police investigation at the end of September, the police reports became public, and the Pioneer Press obtained them Monday. GABA’s attorney notified Bob Lawrence, the association’s current president, last week about receiving a letter from police stating the investigation was closed.

The police reports don’t provide an overall summary of how much money police were looking into. Lawrence said he was disappointed to read the information in the documents.

“If, in fact, anyone did take money from the association, they should pay it back and be held responsible,” said Lawrence, who joined the board in January and became president over the summer.

If additional information becomes available that would allow Ramsey County prosecutors to reconsider charges, they would review the case, according to Dennis Gerhardstein, Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman.

Asked what the minimum qualifications would have been for federal prosecution, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota declined to comment on the case.

POLICE REPORT: MOST OF SAVINGS ACCOUNT WAS DEPLETED

This year, GABA announced on April 23 that Grand Old Day, its signature event, would be canceled. But a week later, GABA said the event would be held after all, prompted largely by a $100,000 public fundraising effort. Some 200,000 attendees flocked to Grand Avenue for the 2.5-mile-long Grand Old Day parade and celebration.

Although the Grand Old Day event itself has been profitable, GABA as an association has run deficits since 2012, according to IRS forms compiled by ProPublica.

A St. Paul police report indicated GABA’s savings account had a balance of $120,542 at the beginning of 2015 and stood at $5,665 at the end of 2016.

Perrone said the funds were approved by the board and were to pay bills or fund budget items.

“It truly ended up being we spent money that we weren’t bringing in at the end of the year and bills went up,” Perrone said. He said the board always had “checks and balances” in place.

Lawrence said he took note in the police report that GABA had built a “rainy day account.”

“The fact it got depleted in a relatively short amount of time — and as far as I know there was no rainy day — that’s disappointing, as well,” he said.

As a non-profit, GABA’s tax records are public, and police looked at them. An investigator noted that total compensation for employees went from $133,200 in 2014 to $217,080 in 2015, before falling to $177,524 in 2016 and $156,547 in 2017.

Perrone said there were additional staff members in 2015 and the association had payouts to two employees that year. He said the board approved bonuses to him, but his salary didn’t change when he was executive director.

INVESTIGATION ALSO LOOKED AT CHECK WRITING

The investigator also found 19 checks that did not appear to be payroll that were made out to Perrone and he had signed seven of them, according to a police report.

“GABA had a check writing policy that a payee could not be the authorized signer of the check,” the report continued.

One check made out to Perrone, which he signed, was for $4,000 in 2015; it was entered into GABA’s accounting software as a “Voided” check, according to the report.

Perrone said Monday that any checks to him were for reimbursements because he used his own credit card for business expenses, and they were authorized by the board.

The current GABA board is comprised of new members, and Lawrence said they’re following the practices of any strong board. The association has two contract employees now and they have no check-signing capabilities, according to Lawrence. Two executive board members have to approve all payments.

The association has also “re-solidified … that our main objective is the marketing and promotion” of Grand Avenue businesses and “everything that we do is for the benefit of those businesses and the community,” Lawrence said.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Human remains discovered in a Nebraska stock trailer appear to be from one of two Wisconsin brothers who were fatally shot by a Missouri farmer, authorities said Monday.

The Lincoln County sheriff’s office in North Platte announced that a local rancher found the remains mixed with dirt in a plastic tub inside the trailer.

“We believe it probably is one of the brothers,” said Roland Kramer, the department’s chief deputy.

The rancher had just bought the trailer through an online ad from a seller in Missouri, Kramer said. He added that Lincoln County officials seized the trailer for possible use as evidence and would work with Missouri authorities as requested.

Garland Nelson, 25, of Braymer, Missouri, is accused of fatally shooting 35-year-old Nick Diemel and 24-year-old Justin Diemel, of Shawano County, Wis., then burning their bodies and dumping them in a manure pile.

Jack Diemel, the brothers’ father, said the two had traveled to Nelson’s farm to collect on a $250,000 debt, according to court records. The father reported his sons missing July 21 after they failed to show up for a flight home to Milwaukee and did not answer their phones.

According to a probable cause statement, Nelson shot the brothers, put their bodies in 55-gallon barrels and used a skid loader to move them one at a time from a barn to a pasture. There, he allegedly burned them using diesel fuel and an unknown liquid. Nelson told investigators he then dumped the remains on a manure pile and hid the barrels elsewhere on his property, about 70 miles northeast of Kansas City, Mo.

The Wadena County sheriff’s office is investigating a report of a horse that was fatally shot during the deer firearms season last week near Nimrod in north-central Minnesota.

The sheriff’s office received a phone call at 2:32 p.m., Wednesday from a property owner who returned home to find the smaller colt shot in the abdomen and frozen on the ground.

The incident occurred northwest of Nimrod, according to a sheriff’s office news release. Nimrod is about 60 miles east of Detroit Lakes.

A deputy responded to the location where they were met by the property owner and directed to the inside of the horse stables at the west side of the barn. The deputy then located the colt that was lying on its side with a visible bullet hole to its abdomen area. The property owner explained the horse was last checked on three days prior.

According to the call, the horse was brown in color.

The deputy searched for any nearby hunters in the area and attempted contact with neighboring landowners. There are no suspects at this time.

This incident is under investigation by the sheriff’s office, and anyone with information is asked to call 218-631-7600.

A man died when he crashed into a power pole and his vehicle flipped upside down Tuesday morning in St. Paul, according to police.

Officers responded to the Summit-University neighborhood about 5 a.m. after a report of a single-vehicle crash on St. Anthony Avenue between Arundel and Kent streets.

Power lines had collapsed around the sport-utility vehicle and “were a threat” to officers and firefighters, so they couldn’t go into the vehicle, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.

First responders could see one person in the SUV and, based on the severity of his injuries, they believed he was deceased, Ernster said.

Xcel Energy employees responded to shut off power to the lines. Paramedics were then able to access the vehicle and pronounced the driver dead.

Police will release the driver’s name after the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office confirms his identity, according to Ernster.

Officials from the Minnesota Department of Corrections are investigating two separate stabbings that occurred at the prison in Oak Park Heights on Monday afternoon.

Just after 1 p.m. Monday, two inmates stabbed another inmate with a unknown weapon. The injured inmate had to be taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul for treatment and was returned to the prison on Monday, said Sarah Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for the DOC.

The second stabbing happened shortly after the first, in a different part of the prison, Fitzgerald said. One inmate stabbed another inmate; the injured inmate did not require hospitalization, she said.

Fitzgerald said the prison was not placed on lockdown, but some programming was modified as a result.

While St. Paul’s police chief recently sought state funding to implement gunshot-location technology, Mayor Melvin Carter told him he hasn’t found conclusive evidence it’s an effective way to reduce gun violence.

Police Chief Todd Axtell, who told Carter he believed the technology could save lives, responded to the mayor in an email last week that he would abandon the idea of seeking state funding for ShotSpotter and instead pursue the funding for another initiative to help solve gun crimes.

“I hesitate to commit the city to such a significant, long term financial investment based only on anecdotal evidence,” Carter wrote to Axtell, according to emails between city officials requested by the Pioneer Press and obtained Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Carter is planning to present a supplemental public safety budget proposal for 2020 to the St. Paul City Council, which he said includes more than $1 million in annual public safety investments; the details have not been released.

The back-and-forth with Axtell and Carter comes as St. Paul officials and community members work to find solutions to gun violence — with 29 homicides, the city has seen the most killings in more than two decades and most of them have been shootings. If St. Paul doesn’t get ShotSpotter, there are questions about whether an already awarded $750,000 federal grant for gun crimes is in jeopardy.

RELATED: St. Paul homicides: Here’s who’s been killed in 2019 — and where

Carter’s views on ShotSpotter mark the second time in recent months that he’s raised questions about a potential approach to addressing gun violence.

Over the summer, after the Ramsey County attorney’s office staff wrote a grant proposal to start a Group Violence Intervention initiative, the county attorney didn’t apply for the federal funding for St. Paul because they wanted Carter to be on board. Carter said recently he was open to an approach like GVI, but he needs to know more about how any initiative aimed at reducing violence would work in St. Paul and gain buy-in from the broader community.

After holding three community meetings this month about public safety, which hundreds of people attended, Carter has “heard loud and clear that addressing the complex causes of gun violence requires a comprehensive set of solutions,” Peter Leggett, Carter’s communications director, said in a statement Tuesday.

Some leaders say St. Paul should still be pursuing ShotSpotter.

“We are in a crisis situation,” Council Member Dai Thao said Tuesday. “I listened to the people and we need immediate technology to pilot and curb gun violence while the mayor and council work on long-term solutions.”

POLICE CHIEF SOUGHT SHOTSPOTTER

Axtell told the City Council in July that he wants to bring ShotSpotter, which triangulates the location of gunshots through acoustic sensors that are placed in neighborhoods, to St. Paul. In Axtell’s budget request to Carter, he asked for a $244,500 ShotSpotter pilot program. Carter did not include it in his proposed 2020 budget.

On Nov. 5, Axtell emailed Carter about a funding request he made to Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington for ShotSpotter. It would be part of a supplemental budget Harrington asked for, Axtell wrote. Gov. Tim Walz and his staff have been in discussions about funding for initiatives addressing violence, Walz’s spokesman said.

Carter responded to Axtell that he’s been interested in ShotSpotter “as a potential tool to both deter future crime and help increase case clearance rates,” but he said he and his staff were “unable to identify the type of independent third party evaluation” that would prove ShotSpotter’s effectiveness.

Axtell wrote back to Carter about a presentation from ShotSpotter.

“As we saw, this technology will tell us, with extreme accuracy and speed — where the shooting is occurring, and when,” Axtell said. “This information will lead to more immediate arrests, more evidence collective, and more investigative leads.”

He cited statistics from various cities that saw reductions in homicides and gunshot incidents, where officials credited ShotSpotter with as a contributing factor. Minneapolis has had the technology since 2005.

Carter wrote back to Axtell that night, Nov. 9, saying, “The Shot Spotter sales pitch was certainly impressive, but it’s still a sales pitch.” He pointed out that “a quick internet search produces a series of less than convincing” articles.

Carter referenced an article from Police Chief Magazine, which evaluated the technology’s impact in St. Louis. The article said, “it is difficult to see how agencies benefit from expensive technology that increases financial strain on departments with its only discernable impact being fewer founded crime incidents.”

Among the articles that Axtell linked to was one from Jackonsville, Fla., where there was discussion about expanding the use of ShotSpotter and the sheriff said residents told him they liked the technology because they were seeing officers respond quickly to gunshots.

After Carter and Axtell continued to email about articles and studies, Carter wrote on Nov. 10: “(T)he available data is inconclusive at best.”

Axtell told Carter in a follow-up email that, instead of ShotSpotter, he would ask Harrington about funding for an initiative to expedite DNA testing for gun crimes.

Harrington, who is a retired St. Paul police chief, “not only leads the state’s Department of Public Safety, he’s also a longtime resident of St. Paul and cares deeply about the city and its residents,” said Bruce Gordon, DPS communications director. “Commissioner Harrington has had discussions with St. Paul officials and offered whatever help and resources DPS can provide as they work to address gun violence in the city.”

IS FEDERAL FUNDING FOR GUN CENTER AT RISK?

Also at issue is a $750,000 federal grant St. Paul recently received to start a Crime Gun Intelligence Center. When applying for the funds, the police department wrote that St. Paul would seek a gunfire detection system and it’s an integral part of the plan. The federal grant doesn’t pay for the ShotSpotter technology, but covers staffing costs associated with it.

Without ShotSpotter, Assistant Police Chief Robert Thomasser told Axtell in a Nov. 12 email, he was unsure if the federal funding for the gun center is in jeopardy.

African American Leadership Council President Tyrone Terrill, who met with other leaders in the black community Tuesday, said they discussed ShotSpotter.

“We need every tool available to us to bring shooters off the streets and ShotSpotter is another tool that would help SPPD do that,” Terrill said, adding that he and others plan to talk to Carter. “Hopefully, the city will move forward and take advantage of the funding.”

If that doesn’t happen, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said he would see if state funding for ShotSpotter could be awarded to the sheriff’s office — as long as there is not an additional cost to Ramsey County — so they could implement the technology in St. Paul.

Homicides in St. Paul are at a decades-high total for the year, with 29 people killed so far. The killings — most of which have been committed with guns — have the city looking for ways to quell the violence, and have prompted federal authorities to get involved.

Here’s a look at where homicides have occurred, who the victims are, and whether police have made arrests in the cases.

THE VICTIMS

Devon Lamont McClellan, 29, was found shot in an alley south of University Avenue near Arundel Street the night of Jan. 14. He later died at Regions Hospital. The case is an open investigation.

Three-year-old Levi Gardet died of blunt force trauma on Jan. 15 in Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. His mother’s boyfriend, Alontae Kaypre Butts, was charged with second-degree murder without intent.

Charles Eugene Frye, 39, was fatally shot at a house party in St. Paul on East Maryland Avenue in the early morning hours of Jan. 26. Months later, Antonio Edward Johnson was charged with one count of second-degree murder.

Aaron Haywood Delaney, 20, was shot at a Holiday gas station in east St. Paul on the night of Jan. 28. He later died at Regions Hospital. Kyuntay Deshawn Prowell was charged with intentional second-degree murder.

Raytrell Benjamin, 23, was shot while sitting in the driver’s seat of a van outside his family’s home on Feb. 21. He was in the Summit-University neighborhood. The case is still an open investigation.

Mark Franklin Jr., 21, was fatally shot on March 15 while protecting his cousin from her boyfriend in Frogtown. The boyfriend, Theotis Antonio Thomas, was charged with second-degree murder.

Matthew Richard Schramm, 33, was pronounced dead in his home in the 1700 block of Benson Avenue on April 15. Antonio Lee Richardson was later charged with second-degree murder. The complaint said Richardson was actually searching for someone else.

Marquez Perry-Banks, 21, was fatally shot outside the Maryland Supermarket in St. Paul on May 3. Lavelle Darvon Brown was charged with two counts of second-degree intentional murder.

Michael Gray, 33, was killed in the early morning hours of May 4 in the parking lot of Johnny Baby’s at University Avenue and Chatsworth Street. The case is still an open investigation.

Riley Taylor, 4, died of probable hyperthermia in his father’s car on May 4 in St. Paul’s Lowertown area. His father, Kristopher Alexander Taylor, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter.

Dajuon Johnson, 22, died from a gunshot wound to the neck on June 22. He was shot at a BP gas station in west St. Paul, and the case is still an open investigation.

Walter Quarles, 39, was shot in St. Paul’s Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood June 28 and found dead on the scene.  Laurence Christopher Wilson was charged with manslaughter after turning himself in.

Jessica Williams, a 27-year-old mother, was shot by her boyfriend in a Frogtown home on July 19. The boyfriend, Shakee Shabazz Miller-Brantley, was charged with intentional second-degree murder.

Randy Malloyd Davis, 20, was shot in the chest in a rare daytime shooting in St. Paul’s Payne-Phalen neighborhood on Aug. 19. The case is still an open investigation.

Off-duty St. Paul firefighter Thomas Harrigan, 36, was fatally shot in his Prosperity Heights home on Sept. 2. Two brothers, Blake Caraway and Dontay Caraway, were each charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

Kacey Fiener, 22, died by gunshot wounds to his torso in a Sept. 7 shooting in east St. Paul. Michael Cordell Garland, 19, was charged with second-degree intentional murder.

Raumez Ross, 18, was shot in the area of Rice Street and Winnipeg Avenue on Sept. 9. The 15-year-old suspect was charged with second-degree murder. His identity is not being released due to his age.

Good Samaritan Javier Sanmiguel Yanez, 31, was shot outside his St. Paul home on Sept. 9 trying to help neighbors in a multi-vehicle crash. Lionel Eaton was charged with second and third-degree murder. Eaton’s attorney said Eaton told police he acted ‘out of fear.’

Nickey Taylor, 27, was fatally shot in a vehicle at University Avenue and Marion Street on Sept. 10. The case is still an open investigation.

Rayvell Carter, 41, was shot leaving bible study in the Summit-University neighborhood on Sept. 18. His bible was next to him. The case is still an open investigation.

Terry Edwards, 36, was fatally shot in St. Paul’s Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood on Sept. 24. Contreal Teejuan Bush was charged with one count of second-degree murder with intent.

Wayne Brown, 29, was found shot in the street in the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood on Sept. 28. The case is still an open investigation.

Jeriko Boykin Sr., a 23-year-old father, was found Oct. 6 in St. Paul’s West Side in an overturned car with a gunshot wound to his head. His 4-year-old son was also in the car with a gunshot wound to his foot. Jeremy Carpenter was later charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder of the 4-year-old.

Steven Dennis Malone, 65, was found Oct. 27 dead in his apartment in west St. Paul. He was bound, gagged and strangled. Suspect Evonne Sharkey faces one count of second-degree unintentional murder and a second count of second-degree manslaughter.

Shawn Jones, 28, was fatally shot the evening of Oct. 27 in the Summit-University area. Two brothers, Marcus Anthony Baker, 33, and Brandon Maurice Baker, 27, have been charged in the case.

David Lee, 32, was shot in the early hours of Nov. 1 in the Highland Park neighborhood. The case is still an open investigation.

Anthony Martin, 25, was shot in St. Paul’s East Side on Nov. 2. He was taken to Regions Hospital where he later died. The case is still an open investigation.

Da’Qwan Jones-Morris, a 17-year-old high school senior and football team captain, was fatally shot at a house on East Annapolis Street on Nov. 6. Two teenage friends were charged in what was reportedly an instance of a mishandled gun firing accidentally.

Daniel Olvera, 20, was found shot in a vehicle at Rice and Wayzata streets Nov. 10. The case is an open investigation.

A former inventory specialist with the Washington County Public Works Department has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $6,000 in automotive parts and tools from the county and using them for personal gain.

Richard J. Erickson, 50, of Dresser, Wis., pleaded guilty last month to a felony charge of theft. He will be sentenced Jan. 2 in Washington County District Court in Stillwater.

Erickson was discovered in April “to have been purchasing automotive parts and tools using Washington County charge accounts and taking the tools and parts for his personal use,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Washington County.

The purchases were made over an eight-month period beginning in August 2018, the complaint states.

The parts and equipment ranged from a $924 set of Goodyear Wrangler Trailrunner tires to a $1.87 spark-plug socket. The total cost: $6,397.

On April 30, law enforcement officers executed search warrants on Erickson’s house and the public works facility at 11660 Myeron Road North. Erickson also was arrested that day and placed on paid administrative leave; his last day of employment for Washington County was June 21.

As St. Paul’s mayor and police chief recently exchanged emails about gunshot-detection software, they shared links to articles about the technology.

“I appreciate your desperation to identify every tool to reduce and eliminate gun violence in our city,” Mayor Melvin Carter wrote to Police Chief Todd Axtell on Nov. 7. “I share that conviction too strongly to settle for the appearance of decisive action; I need an outcome-based strategy.”

Axtell responded the next day, telling Carter, “This isn’t an approach from a place of desperation. It is my recommendation based on my experience as the Chief of Police and 31 year police officer.”

RELATED: St. Paul police chief sought state funding for gunshot-location system, but mayor unswayed

In a Nov. 10 follow-up email, Carter wrote that “in the absence of independent empirical evidence to validate promotional claims, and particularly because the significant and long term financial commitment would limit available resources for proven interventions,” he was unlikely to tell the city council that a gunfire-detection system was a funding priority.

Axtell responded that he would “abandon the idea” to seek state funding for ShotSpotter and instead see about funding for an initiative to expedite DNA testing for gun crimes.

Before they reached that point, what were the articles the mayor and police chief were relying on regarding ShotSpotter? Here’s a look at some of what they highlighted, based on emails Axtell and Carter sent to each other, which were requested and obtained by the Pioneer Press:

BOTH MENTIONED TIME MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Carter quoted a passage from a 2017 Time magazine article: “What’s more challenging is determining ShotSpotter’s effect on crime. ‘The jury is out on whether it reduces gun violence or improves relationships’ between police and communities, says (Jennifer) Doleac of the University of Virginia. ‘There’s a lot of potential that it could do that, but there hasn’t been any rigorous evaluation of it.’ ”

Axtell wrote to Carter, “Some think that ShotSpotter’s primary purpose is to reduce gunfire (which it does, according to this TIME magazine article …), but more importantly, it allows us to respond every time someone pulls the trigger in an area that is covered by the technology. This sends a powerful message to our community. It allows us to collect valuable evidence that can help apprehend shooters.”

MAYOR POINTED TO LACKLUSTER RESULTS

In an article from Police Chief Magazine, Carter pointed to a passage that said, “the technology has been riding the broad downward slide in crime that has taken place since the 1990s, especially in high crime areas that saw even steeper declines in crime. It may certainly seem that AGDS (Acoustic Gunshot Detection System) areas have a larger downward trend in gun crimes when compared to overall city levels, but once one compares like areas, those differences disappear.”

In more than 19,000 ShotSpotter calls over a decade in St. Louis, a study “was able to identify only 13 arrests uniquely tied to the AGDS calls,” Carter quoted from the article.

Carter also referenced a 2016 Forbes magazine article, which said out of thousands of ShotSpotter alerts in cities that were reviewed, “police were unable to find evidence of gunshots between 30%-70% of the time.”

The article also said, “It’s true that using ShotSpotter has led to arrests, including some where a ‘smoking gun’ isn’t a cliche, but an actual description of a crime scene. Police dispatch records show that these instances are exceedingly rare, however, amounting to about one percent of all calls.”

POLICE CHIEF HIGHLIGHTED SUCCESS STORIES

Axtell wrote to Carter, “ShotSpotter has been shown to significantly reduce response times, violent crime and improve police department’s ability to gather more reliable data” and he linked to an October article about the Urban Institute’s evaluation of gunshot-detection technology in Denver, Milwaukee and Richmond, Calif.

Daniel Lawrence, one of the evaluation’s authors, told Capital Public Radio that Richmond officers were going to gunshot-detection alerts about 15 percent faster than there were for 911 calls, which amounted to 30 seconds to 3 minutes. Richmond experienced a drop in violent crime by 18 percent to 37 percent in areas that had sensors.

“Milwaukee had some decreases,” the article continued. “Denver had no change. The researchers say success depends on the ability of a department to communicate with the public, train with the technology, and thoroughly investigate once a notification is made.”

Axtell also pointed out articles from cities that were reporting successes, including in Jacksonville, Fla., where there was discussion about expanding the use of ShotSpotter and the sheriff said residents liked the technology because they were seeing officers respond quickly to gunshots.

LITCHFIELD, Minn. — Authorities in central Minnesota say someone left “booby traps” in a farmer’s field apparently meant to damage farm equipment.

Meeker County Sheriff Brian Cruze said a farmer near Cedar Mills on Monday reported minor damage to a combine after a chain was drawn into the machine during harvesting.

Cruze told Minnesota Public Radio News it’s premature to speculate on motive. The sheriff said the chain may have been in the corn for weeks or months.

But he said when the farm family got deeper into the crop, it happened again.

Mindy Johnson’s family farms about 2,000 acres of corn and soybeans. She said the second incident involved a 6-foot piece of steel rebar pounded into the ground near a cornstalk where it was hard to see.

Johnson said she doesn’t know why her family’s farm would be singled out.

GONVICK, Minn. — A northwestern Minnesota woman was sentenced to almost five years in prison for criminal vehicular homicide under the influence of alcohol after pleading guilty to backing over her boyfriend with a pickup after a night of drinking in August.

She also was ordered to pay nearly $6,400 in restitution. A second count of vehicular homicide was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

At the time of the incident on Aug. 23, Beth Rose Windus’ driver’s license had been revoked since 2016. According to court documents, responding officers said the body of Jonathon Neil Sundquist, 47, was found outside a rural Gonvick home with injuries to his head.

Windus, 47, told investigators that she and Sundquist were in a relationship, lived together and had been arguing the day of his death because she had not cooked dinner when he came home from work. The pair went out to eat and buy beer, and stopped at a bar on the way home.

According to court documents, once back in their driveway, Sundquist got out of the car and Windus backed up. She told investigators she felt a “thumb, thump,” saw Sundquist not moving on the ground and left the driveway feeling “a little p-ssed off.”

According to court documents, Windus drove to a friend’s house just after midnight and appeared frightened, and asked her friend to go to her home. The woman found Sundquist in the driveway and called 911. First responders unsuccessfully performed CPR on Sundquist, who died just before 12:30 a.m. Aug. 24.

Windus was previously on probation for driving while impaired.

CASS LAKE, Minn. — Authorities in northern Minnesota are investigating the death of a 19-year-old man as a homicide.

Cass County Sheriff Tom Burch said his office responded to an emergency call at a home in Cass Lake just before 6 p.m. Monday. Deputies found the man’s body at the home.

The sheriff’s office began investigating with help from the Leech Lake Tribal Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

An autopsy is scheduled. The sheriff said homicide is suspected, and the investigation continues.