A judge on Monday warned that he’s likely to move the trials of four police officers charged in George Floyd’s death out of Minneapolis if public officials and attorneys don’t stop talking about the case.

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill stopped short of issuing a gag order on attorneys, but he said one is likely if public statements continue. Cahill added that such a situation would also make him likely to grant a change-of-venue motion if one is filed.

“The court is not going to be happy about hearing about the case in three areas: media, evidence and guilt or innocence,” Cahill said.

It was the second pretrial hearing for the officers, who were fired after Floyd’s May 25 death. Derek Chauvin, 44, is charged with second-degree murder and other counts, while Thomas Lane, 37, J. Kueng, 26, and Tou Thao, 34, are charged with aiding and abetting Chauvin.

Floyd died after Chauvin, a white police officer, pressed his knee against the handcuffed 46-year-old Black man’s neck for nearly eight minutes. The officers were responding to a call about a man trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill at a nearby store.

Floyd’s death was universally condemned in Minnesota, with elected officials including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey calling for the officers to be charged. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said Floyd’s death was “murder.”

Cahill asked Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank to use his influence to keep public officials silent, warning that if they continued to discuss it publicly, he likely would “have to pull (trials) out of Hennepin County and they need to be aware of that.”

Cahill set a March 8 trial date for the former officers if they are tried together, though he said he expects motions to be filed to separate their trials. The next court date is Sept. 11.

The defendants have not entered pleas. Chauvin’s attorney has not commented publicly on the charges, while Lane’s and Kueng’s attorneys have sought to minimize their clients’ roles and deflect blame to the more senior Chauvin in Floyd’s death, which sparked protests around the world against police brutality.

Chauvin remains in custody on $1 million bail and Thao is being held on $750,000 bail. Lane and Kueng are free on bond.

Cahill also rejected a defense request to reconsider his earlier decision to allow cameras in the courtroom during pretrial proceedings. Defense attorneys asked to allow such coverage, but prosecutors objected. The judge has not ruled on whether to allow cameras for the trial itself, which in Minnesota usually requires the consent of all parties.

Kueng’s attorney, Tom Plunkett, was the attorney asking Cahill to reconsider his ruling on cameras. He asserted that prosecutors and other officials forfeited their right to object to cameras in the courtroom by making public comments that went as far as “saying the defendants are guilty of murder.” He said allowing electronic coverage of pretrial proceedings would actually make it easier to impanel a fair jury by helping to “educate the public that there may be more to the cases than what has been told to them by the state.”

The charges against Chauvin are unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Second-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, third-degree murder carries up to 25 years and manslaughter up to 10.

The other three former officers are charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Those charges are legally tantamount to the counts against Chauvin and carry the same penalties.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Monday called on officials in Stillwater to take “concrete actions” to ensure the safety of people of color after bikers on Saturday allegedly harassed and intimated a Muslim mother and her child.

The woman, Sophia Rashid, of Minneapolis, told police that she was eating dinner with her 4-year-old daughter on the outdoor patio at Leo’s Grill and Malt Shop in downtown Stillwater when a group of men wearing black leather vests displaying the words “Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood” walked by. Rashid, who was wearing a hijab, said the men began pointing at her and making statements like “We’ve got our eye on you” and “We’re watching you,” according to police reports.

Three servers from Leo’s escorted Rashid and her daughter out of the restaurant area and stayed with them until police arrived; an officer later escorted Rashid and her daughter to their car.

“We thank the restaurant staff and the police officer who sought to protect the Muslim mother and her child, but public officials must take concrete steps to ensure that this type of harassment and intimidation targeting members of minority communities does not occur in the future,” Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR-MN, said in a statement.

Stillwater Mayor Ted Kozlowski said police on Monday were still trying to connect with Rashid. “She needs to work with investigators to figure out what is going on,” he said.

He said he also talked to Hussein and discussed whether business owners have a right to refuse service to people wearing symbols of hate or discrimination. They do, he said.

“There is going to be some good education coming out of this,” he said. “If anyone feels threatened in Stillwater, they have right to call the police and ask for assistance.”

A former theater director at Anoka Middle School for the Arts is under investigation after sexual assault allegations were brought against him by a former student.

Allegations against Jefferson Fietek, the school’s theater director from 2005 to 2019, surfaced last week in a Facebook post by the former male student, who is now an adult living in Utah.

The Anoka County sheriff’s office confirmed Monday that it is investigating sexual assault allegations that two alleged victims made against a “former staff member” at the arts school, which is a magnet school in the Anoka-Hennepin School District.

Although the statement did not name the person under investigation, the school district has named the accused as Fietek, who left the middle school to teach arts at Emerson College in Boston.

According to the sheriff’s office, a report was made to them on June 25 alleging the sexual assault of a former student approximately nine years ago by a male staff member. The accuser said the assault did not occur on school grounds.

He is also accused of sexually assaulting a second student, the sheriff’s office said. The alleged assault was reported to have occurred last year.

The sheriff’s office said it has received additional information from social media regarding possible additional accusations and urged other possible victims to contact them.

“Much of that information regarding new victims has not been reported to law enforcement,” the sheriff’s office said in its statement.

SCHOOL SAYS IT TOOK ‘IMMEDIATE ACTION’

In a statement emailed to parents Friday, the Anoka-Hennepin school district said it was alerted to a social media post on Thursday and “took immediate action working with law enforcement and the appropriate agencies regarding allegations brought against former theatre director, Jefferson Fietek.”

Fietek was an outspoken advocate for gay students in the Anoka-Hennepin school district. He was actively involved in the fierce debate over anti-gay bullying that rattled the school district in 2010 after a string of student suicides and the filing of two federal lawsuits by students who were bullied in district schools for their real or perceived sexual orientation.

In March 2012, the school board voted to accept a settlement agreement with former and current district students who had filed the lawsuits over a policy requiring staff to remain neutral when the topic of sexual orientation came up in the classroom.

The settlement required the district to hire staff to improve the climate for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students and more closely monitor and report bullying. The district also paid a lump sum of $270,000 to be divided among the student plaintiffs.

A LOOK AT FIETEK’S PERSONNEL FILE

On Monday, school district spokesman Jim Skelly said that Fietek had three complaints in his personnel file while at the school, but that none of them led to discipline and that they did not involve alleged sexual misconduct. Because there was no discipline, the district is not allowed under state to reveal the nature of the complaints.

“If they were of sexual nature, the district would have had to report them immediately to law enforcement and to the mandated reporter,” he said.

In 2014, while living in Coon Rapids, Fietek unsuccessfully ran for the state House of Representatives District 36A seat after receiving the DFL endorsement.

Up until last week, Fietek was an assistant professor of performing arts at Emerson College.

Attempts to reach Fietek Monday were unsuccessful.

Fietek’s theater consulting website and social media accounts have been deleted.

Authorities say a Shafer man went on a crime spree Monday morning that started off with him assaulting a convenience store clerk, firing a gun, smashing a windshield, ramming a squad car and escaping injury when three deputies fired their guns at him.

The Chicago County Sheriff’s Office said shortly before 10 a.m. Monday, deputies received a report that a white male with a beard and ponytail was assaulting the 911 caller and a clerk inside a convenience store.

After the assaults, deputies learned the man had fired his handgun and smashed a windshield with the gun.

When deputies arrived, the man had already fled the area but information on the license plate of the vehicle he was driving led authorities to his home on Quinland Lane. As deputies were arriving, the man left the house and sped up until he rammed an occupied squad car parked in the opposite lane. Three deputies fired their weapons.

The suspect, later identified as Benjamin Michael Juneau, 47, was not hit. He was treated at an area hospital with minor injures from the car crash and released.

He was booked into the Chicago County Jail on suspicion of felony second-degree assault.

Someone shot and wounded a 41-year-old woman who was suspected of taking part in a robbery Tuesday in St. Paul, police said.

And a newspaper carrier said he and his daughters were in their vehicle and in the crossfire, and he feared for their safety as it unfolded. In his 36 years delivering newspapers, the carrier said he’s stopped people from breaking into vehicles and seen other crimes, but nothing like what happened early Tuesday.

He said the shooting left him feeling “very much” in danger for himself, and his 13- and 18-year-old daughters who were helping him. He is a Pioneer Press contractor who also delivers the Star Tribune and New York Times. The Pioneer Press is not naming the carrier over his concerns for his family’s safety.

Officers responded to the St. Anthony Park neighborhood after several people called 911 to report hearing arguments and gunfire, and a person being shot around 2:40 a.m. Police found shell casings in the 2000 block of Como Avenue, near Raymond/Cleveland Avenue.

Residents of an apartment reported three women and a man entered the unit and robbed them as the man pointed a gun at them.

It appears the people being robbed and the suspects knew each other and had an ongoing feud, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.

The suspects took several items from the apartment, including a hoverboard and shoes. They ran out and, as they did, someone outside started shooting, according to Linders. A woman — one of the robbery suspects — was struck in the shoulder and chest, according to police. The people with her drove her to the hospital in a sport-utility vehicle.

Police are investigating who shot the woman and whether anyone in the SUV shot back.

The carrier said he saw a man firing at a vehicle and then a few shots came back from the direction of the vehicle. He estimates he and his daughters were 15 feet away, and the teens were screaming as they saw what was happening.

The woman who was shot underwent surgery and is expected to survive, Linders said. A 21-year-old man and 23-year-old woman were arrested at the hospital on suspicion of burglary, robbery and aggravated assault.

Paramedics checked out the carrier at the scene of the shooting. The 46-year-old, who started delivering newspapers when he was 10, said he has asthma and heart problems. The adrenaline of trying to call 911 and ensure that his daughters were safe caused him to have trouble breathing and he almost lost consciousness, he said.

He had to leave his newspaper route early and customers were calling him Tuesday to make sure he was OK.

“All they cared about was the safety of us and our children,” said the carrier, who is planning to get right back to his route.

A 21-year-old man and two juveniles have been charged in the violent robbery of a Macalester-Groveland liquor store last Tuesday that authorities suspect is tied to a rash of armed robberies and car-jackings that have broken out across Ramsey County recently.

The group entered McCafferty’s Fine Wine and Spirits around 7:30 p.m. and a 15-year-old among them pulled out a gun, pointed it at an employee and ordered her to hand over a cash drawer, according to a criminal complaint and juvenile petition filed in Ramsey County District Court Tuesday.

Tesean Damarr Robinson, 17, stood beside the 15-year-old as Devon Glover, 21, barked orders from elsewhere in the store, according to video surveillance footage captured of the incident, the documents say.

At one point, the employee heard someone say “Shoot her” and watched as the younger teen raised his gun, she later told police.

That’s when the employee ran toward the back of the store, followed closely by the three assailants, charges say.

The suspects pistol-whipped her and beat her as she tried to escape out the back door, the complaint said.

The door eventually opened and she fell out of the store screaming while the suspects fled in a black Kia Sportage, according to the video footage, court documents say.

Glover reportedly grabbed a cash register on his way out, while Robinson was seen carrying the cash drawer.

Police who responded to the scene found the employee outside the store bleeding from her head and “visibly distraught.”

She was taken to a hospital, where staples were placed in her scalp to close her head wounds and photographs were taken of other injuries to her face, neck, chest and hand.

She told officers that she thought the suspects were going to kill her, and that she won’t ever return to her longtime job after the experience, court documents say.

The 15-year-old, who was not named due to his age, Robinson and Glover are all charged with first-degree aggravated robbery and third-degree assault resulting in substantial bodily hard.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office intends to ask a judge to certify Robinson as an adult in the case.

The three were identified after police circulated images captured on the store’s surveillance system among local law enforcement.

Two St. Paul officers recognized the 15-year-old from past interactions, the complaint said.

One officer said he’s had a minimum of 100 encounters with him since 2014, including interviewing him over the years about numerous other aggravated robberies and vehicle thefts, charges say.

Investigators found the “likely suspect vehicle” about 300 feet from the 15-year-old’s address. It had been stolen during a car-jacking at gunpoint in New Hope earlier this month.

There have been 30 reports of Ramsey County citizens being robbed or car-jacked at gunpoint in a similar manner over the last month, according to the petition.

Law enforcement officers suspect the same group of young men and juveniles is responsible for the crime spree, court documents say.

Two Twin Cities men were arrested Monday in separate St. Paul arson cases stemming from the unrest that followed the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police a month ago.

Matthew Scott White, 31, of Minneapolis is accused of setting a fire on May 28 that destroyed the Enterprise Rent-A-Car on University Avenue with the help of his sister and her juvenile son, according to a criminal complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court. He faces one count each of arson and conspiracy to commit arson.

White’s sister was charged earlier this month with conspiracy to commit arson.

Mohamed Hussein Abdi, 19, of Maplewood is accused of setting a fire on May 28 that damaged the cafeteria of Gordon Parks High School on University Avenue, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Minnesota. He faces one count of arson.

Both men made their first appearances in court Tuesday in St. Paul.

Enterprise and Gordon Parks High were among dozens of St. Paul buildings — mostly along University Avenue — damaged in the rioting that began in South Minneapolis after Floyd died.

Footage captured by Enterprise’s security cameras on the night of the fires shows White first entering the building with his nephew at 8:44 p.m. while his sister waited outside, according to the criminal complaint against White.

The pair briefly exited the building before returning to the back office area — where investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined the fire started — for about five minutes, the complaint says.

When they exited the building for the last time at 8:49 p.m., flames were visible in the reflection of the front window.

A witness told ATF investigators that, as White walked out of the building, he said something to the effect of “back up because it’s going up,” according to the complaint. Another witness told investigators that White threw objects onto the fire after it was started.

Just across the street that same night, security cameras inside Gordon Parks High at University and Griggs Street captured Abdi and another person setting fire to the school’s cafeteria, according to the news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The footage showed Abdi reaching through a broken glass to pour a clear liquid onto the cafeteria floor, before entering the cafeteria and pouring more of the liquid into a trash can and igniting the trash can, the news release said.

The footage then showed Abdi and the other person running from the building as flames and black smoke “erupt from the trash can,” according to the news release.

St. Paul police are investigating a fatal shooting early Wednesday that happened during a disturbance at a Midway bar.

At about 1:15 a.m., people started calling 911 about a disturbance at the Trend Bar on University Avenue near Snelling Avenue. Officers learned that someone had driven a woman to Regions Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

She had been shot during the incident on University Avenue, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.

The Forensic Services Unit was combing the area to the west and north of the bar, Linders said.

A homicide investigation is underway and no one had been arrested as of Wednesday morning. Police are asking anyone with information to call them at 651-266-5650.

Police will release the name of the woman who was killed after the Ramsey County medical examiner’s office confirms her identity and her family is notified.

The homicide is the 17th of the year in St. Paul. There were 12 at this time last year, according to police.

Gun violence has been up in St. Paul — there have been 96 people shot, including fatally, this year. That’s compared to 70 during the same period last year.

Police Chief Todd Axtell told the City Council last week that reports of shots fired — which numbered 928 — are up 130 percent this year.

Axtell said police are continuing to work with federal law enforcement agencies to go after people “with razor-sharp precision” who are illegally carrying guns and pulling the triggers “indiscriminately” to settle disputes that often are about perceived acts of disrespect.

“We’re partnering with our community, too,” Linders said Wednesday. “They have information that we need to know and we have information they need to know and by working together we can keep everyone safe.”

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives asked again for the public’s assistance Wednesday in identifying people who set fire to properties in the Twin Cities during the civil unrest that followed the death of George Floyd.

More than 150 fire scenes have been investigated by the ATF, along with other local, state and federal agencies, since early June. So far, 13 people have been arrested on arson-related charges.

The public aided in identifying six of the 13 individuals who were arrested, and the ATF has offered about $100,000 in rewards to incentivize people with information to come forward.

The largest reward, doubled to $20,000 last week, was offered for information leading to the arrest of a couple suspected of setting several St. Paul businesses on fire. They fled Minnesota a few weeks ago and are now sought by the U.S. Marshals as fugitives.

The ATF has offered $5,000 rewards for information relating to 15 different suspects, and has begun paying out some of the rewards based on the information’s value to the investigation.

The most recent arrests happened Monday night. Mohamed Hussein Abdi, of Maplewood, was charged with arson at Gordon Parks High School in St. Paul and Matthew Scott White, of Minneapolis, is accused of setting a fire that destroyed the Enterprise Rent-A-Car on University Avenue.

Among surveillance photos released by the ATF have been four suspects in an arson at Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul. Photos from other cases can be viewed on the ATF’s website.

The ATF is asking anyone who can identify or provide the whereabouts about suspects in any of the cases to email ATFTips@atf.gov or go to ReportIt.com. People can also call 888-283-8477.

Information can be submitted anonymously, but those seeking reward compensation should include their contact information with the tip. Rewards are given for information that leads to the successful identification, arrest and conviction of a suspect.

Authorities are also asking the public for any photos or video taken of rioting in the Twin Cities in late May after the Memorial Day death of Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, specifically of individuals starting fires or adding accelerants to fires.

A Twin Cities woman has been sentenced to more than four years in prison after pleading guilty in an elaborate ginseng farm fraud scheme, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Mai Vang, 51, of Brooklyn Center pleaded guilty Tuesday to theft-by-swindle charges. Vang also must pay restitution of more than $480,000 to the nine victims she defrauded.

Vang had eluded arrest for two years after charges were filed against her in 2017. She was found in Georgia in March and extradited to Minnesota.

Prosecutors said Vang convinced members of Minnesota’s Hmong community to invest in a ginseng farm she claimed to own near Wausau, Wis. One couple who knew Vang from church gave her their life savings.

Vang allegedly spent money from the victims to gamble at a casino.

Some members of a commission reviewing a proposal to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department expressed concern Wednesday about the fast-tracked timeline they must follow if the proposed change has any chance of getting on the November ballot.

The Minneapolis Charter Commission met Wednesday to outline how it will go about its work over the next several weeks as it reviews the City Council’s proposal to amendment the city’s charter. The proposal, which comes following widespread criticism of law enforcement over the killing of George Floyd, would replace the police department with a new “Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention” that has yet to be fully defined.

The Charter Commission has the authority to approve the amendment, propose a substitute amendment, reject it or ask for a 90-day extension. The City Council is not bound by the commission’s recommendation, but it can’t move forward until the review is complete.

In order to meet an Aug. 21 deadline to get the question on the November ballot — where voters would have the final say — the commission must finish its work in 35 days. Typically, the commission has 60 days to review a proposed amendment change, and can ask for a 90-day extension.

“If we elect to take our additional time, this ballot question will not be on the ballot in November,” Commission Chairman Barry Clegg said.

The 15-member commission will hold two public hearings — one on July 15, and another that has yet to be scheduled. Commissioners also voted to invite members of the City Council and the mayor to its July 8 meeting to answer questions. The public may submit comments online until the conclusion of the final public hearing.

Initially, Clegg proposed to have the first public hearing next week, but some commissioners said they were uncomfortable with that tight timeline.

“I’m not as concerned about meeting the council’s timeline as I am about getting this right,” said Commissioner Matt Perry. He suggested holding the first public hearing in two weeks, to give neighborhood organizations and other groups time to talk with constituents. “And if that pushes the timeline out, so be it.”

The Minneapolis police force has come under heavy pressure since Floyd, a Black man in handcuffs, died May 25 after an officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes.

According to draft language of the amendment posted online, the new department “will have responsibility for public safety services prioritizing a holistic, public health-oriented approach.” The director of the new agency would have “non-law-enforcement experience in community safety services, including but not limited to public health and/or restorative justice approaches.”

The amendment would still allow for armed police officers — it calls for a division of licensed peace officers who would answer to the new department’s director.

As a 20-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman playfully interacted in St. Paul, a gun in the man’s waistband fell to the ground and went off, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday. The woman was shot and died at the hospital soon after.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Dominique D. Taylor, of St. Paul, with second-degree manslaughter and crime committed for the benefit of a gang.

The shooting happened in the Midway neighborhood in the area of University Avenue and Asbury Street on Wednesday about 1:15 a.m.

Officers found out the shooting was captured on surveillance video from the nearby Trend Bar. It showed Taylor and Taquita Dayvon Williams, of St. Paul, near a car.

They “appeared to be playfully interacting by jostling and shoving one another,” the complaint said. “Taylor stepped over the curb while holding onto both of (Williams’) arms and pulling her along with him. People in the foreground ducked in response to a gunshot.”

Williams grabbed her abdomen and lay down. Taylor picked up something from the ground and put it in his pants, then got into the passenger seat of a Chevrolet Tahoe that drove away.

A woman reported to police that she and Williams were leaving the bar when someone started shooting and Williams yelled, “I’m hit! I’m hit!,” the complaint said. A man who saw Williams on the ground picked her up and drove her to Regions Hospital as fast as he could, but she was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound.

SISTER: ‘THEY TOOK OUR JOY’

Williams came from a big family, and loved being around them and her friends, said Danielle Williams, Taquita’s sister.

“They pretty much took the heart of our family,” she said Thursday. “She’s the one who kept everyone together. … She brightened up every room that she came in. They took our joy, that’s what they took.”

Taquita Williams had been at Trend Bar with some other women, who apparently were acquainted with Taylor, according to her sister. She was hanging out with people outside the bar when she was shot, but there was no argument, Danielle Williams said.

Born in Chicago and raised in suburban Chicago Heights, Taquita Williams — who was known as “Tee” — moved to St. Paul about four years ago to be closer to her cousins and aunt. She was always happy and energetic. “That’s why she got along with everyone,” Danielle Williams said.

When their grandmother was sick, she went back to Illinois and took care of her for several months until she died in February.

She worked as a certified nursing assistant and, despite the coronavirus pandemic, “she wasn’t really worried, as long as she had protective equipment, she wanted to help people,” her sister said.

MAN TOLD POLICE SHOOTING WAS AN ACCIDENT

Surveillance video from early Wednesday showed the Tahoe arrive at Regions and police found Taylor sitting by a set of stairs outside the emergency room. When officers asked if he had any weapons, he said he had a handgun in his sweatpants.

Taylor reported that gun had hit the ground and went off, striking Williams, the complaint said.

Police arrested Taylor and he spoke with investigators, saying what happened was an accident. He said he had the gun in his waistband so he could “quick draw.” He explained he was the founder of a gang, Just My Bros, and needed the gun for protection from other gangs, according to the complaint.

Taylor, who is not eligible to possess guns because he was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2017, said he bought the gun on the street about a week ago. “He said the gun’s safety was not engaged because he doesn’t have time to disengage the safety should he need to shoot in public,” the complaint continued.

Taylor reported he was talking to Williams, she grabbed him and the gun fell to the ground, discharged and a bullet struck her, the complaint said.

He also said he was “too drunk” to stop the gun from falling from his pants. He picked up the gun afterward and had someone drive him to Regions to check on Williams.

Taylor got out of prison on supervised release on May 4 for the robberies. He was charged when he was 16 and certified for adult prosecution.

In the current case, an attorney for Taylor was not listed in the court record as of Thursday afternoon.

Mendota Heights police are investigating after a man was stabbed on Wednesday night.

Officers received a report about 7:30 p.m. and the man reported the assault took place near the 700 block of Plaza Drive, which is in the area of Dodd Road and Minnesota 62.

The man, whose injuries were non-life threatening, was transported by ambulance to a hospital, according to police.

Officers, including two K-9 teams, responded to the scene and searched the area for the suspect, who was not found Wednesday night.

After a 22-year-old man was shot in St. Paul, he told police that he and his girlfriend had been having problems with another man and his girlfriend over things posted on social media.

The two men saw each other in the parking lot of the former Sears on Rice Street on June 19 and exchanged words.

The 22-year-old thought they were going to fight, but instead he heard a shot and saw blood, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday. A bullet went through his chest and out his back, and he was treated at Regions Hospital.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Ryan L. Knudsen, 21 of Shoreview, with second-degree assault and illegal possession of a firearm. Knudsen was convicted of aggravated robbery as a teen and is not allowed to posses a firearm.

Police arrested Knudsen on Tuesday. His girlfriend told police she hadn’t seen the altercation, but Knudsen told her that a guy came up and pointed a gun at him. Knudsen also told her he turned the gun in the man’s hand, so it was pointing away from him, and it then went off and struck the man, according to the complaint.

Knudsen stated to police that he had no idea why he was arrested. When an investigator told him he knew that he’d got into it with the man in the parking lot, Knudsen said he did not. The investigator asked how the man was shot and Knudsen requested an attorney, the complaint said.

His attorney declined to comment on Thursday.

Dozens of young children practicing football last week at a Minneapolis park were spared when bullets began to fly over their heads from a rolling gun battle one shaken mother described in a Facebook post that has been widely viewed.

Carrie Heinrich said 50 or so children and a handful of parents heard fireworks one evening last week while the players were practicing at Jordan Park. But soon, gunfire rang out as a car slowly turned the corner. Coaches ordered the players, ages 5 to 14, to get down as bullets flew overhead and pinged off posts at the park, Heinrich said in her post, which has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.

“The worst feeling as a parent,” Heinrich said, “was seeing my kid out in the middle of an open field with bullets flying and not being able to get to him.”

Gunfire sprayed from one moving vehicle to another over the heads of those on the playing field as coaches and parents swooped up the children, hustled them into vehicles and took them a coach’s house nearby.

June 22 was an especially violent day in Minneapolis when nine people were shot and two were stabbed. It comes amid skyrocketing gun violence since George Floyd’s May 25 death at the hands of Minneapolis police.

No arrests have been made in the park shooting, police said.

A federal charge has been dropped against a Ramsey woman who authorities initially said was involved in an arson at a St. Paul nutrition store in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Three 19-year-olds — Samuel Elliott Frey of Brooklyn Park, McKenzy Ann DeGuidio Dunn of Rosemount and Bailey Marie Baldus — were all charged in June in connection with the May 28 arson at the Great Health Nutrition store at 1360 W. University Ave.

On Thursday, charges against Baldus were dismissed.

“We’re happy to see that the government decided to drop the charges,” said her attorney, Daniel C. Guerrero. “I think it was clear from anyone’s view of the video of what occurred in that health supplement store that Bailey’s actions were certainly non-participatory in any alleged arson on that particular day.”

Guerrero added that he was glad that authorities were following through with the prosecution of those who “needlessly destroyed property,” saying Baldus was an innocent person caught up in the wide sweep.

“She certainly understands that she shouldn’t have been in that building and she acknowledged that to the government, but what we saw on the video demonstrates her non-culpability and non-participation,” he said.

According to the criminal complaint, after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives circulated images of people seen on video surveillance, they received numerous tips that led to the three arrests. In the video footage at the Midway store, Frey can be seen pouring flammable hand sanitizer onto a shelving unit and setting it on fire, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota.

Magistrate Judge Hildy Bowbeer agreed on Thursday to dismiss the charges after two assistant U.S. attorneys filed a motion Wednesday.

The attorneys wrote that the arson investigation is ongoing and would include “reviewing material seized pursuant to search warrants and reviewing other evidence to determine the scope of the alleged conduct by Ms. Baldus and others.”

Bloomington police say they suspect a St. Paul man charged earlier this week in the violent robbery of a St. Paul liquor store was also one of two men involved in the robbery and shooting of a restaurant owner in June.

Devon Dwayne Reginald Glover, 20, of St. Paul, was charged in connection with a violent take-over robbery of McCafferty’s Fine Wine and Spirits in Macalester-Groveland. At the time, authorities said he was also possibly tied to a rash of armed robberies and carjackings.

On Thursday, Bloomington investigators announced that Glover would face felony charges in connection with the robbery and shooting of the owner of Penn Lake Roast Beef on June 16.

Another man, Marshawn Michael Davison, 19, of Columbia Heights was also arrested Wednesday in the Bloomington case and is jailed on suspicion of aggravated robbery.

Investigators say two men shot the owner of Penn Lake Roast Beef in the upper body during a robbery of his store. The man is still hospitalized from his injuries.

“The investigation took a few weeks to get here,” said Bloomington Police Deputy Chief Mike Hartley. “But we are really happy to make arrests in this case. There’s been a lot of community support for (the owner). The victim really is a great guy and been in business here a long time.”

St. Paul police arrested Glover on Wednesday. A vehicle fled from officers after initially stopping and Glover jumped out a short time later, according to a police report.

In the McCafferty’s robbery, authorities say Glover and two juveniles allegedly robbed an employee, threatened to shoot her and then pistol whipped her when she tried to escape out a back door.

Glover reportedly grabbed a cash register on his way out, while a 17-year-old was seen carrying the cash drawer. Police who responded to the scene found the employee outside the store bleeding from her head and “visibly distraught,” according to a criminal complaint.

She was taken to a hospital, where she needed staples to close her head wounds. She told officers that she thought the suspects were going to kill her, and that she won’t ever return to her longtime job after the experience, court documents say.

Authorities believe the St. Paul robbery is tied to a rash of armed robberies and carjackings that have broken out across Ramsey County recently. According to that criminal complaint, there have been 30 reports of people being robbed or carjacked at gunpoint in a similar manner over the last month.

Authorities recovered a body from a pond near a homeless camp in Maplewood a few days after reports of a man who disappeared under water at that location.

The Ramsey County sheriff’s office received a 911 call about 4 a.m. Tuesday that a man from the homeless camp had been struggling in the pond near the middle and then had gone underwater. Sheriff’s deputies, Maplewood police officers and firefighters searched the pond but did not find the body. The Ramsey County sheriff’s office said that “murky water and dense weeds made the search very challenging.”

At about 7 p.m. Thursday, a volunteer with Wings of Hope Search and Rescue called 911 to report that they might have found the body. When authorities arrived, they recovered the body.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner will release the name of the individual. No further information was available late Thursday.

A man who was shot Thursday afternoon in North Minneapolis died from his injuries shortly afterwards, police said.

The department received a report of a shooting near 21st Avenue North and 4th Street North at about 2:48 p.m., according to a press release.

Officers found a man shot with no pulse nor respiration. They administered CPR and other life-saving measures until paramedics took the man to the hospital, where he died.

A man was reported seen running away from the scene. Officers detained and questioned him to see “what role he played in this case, if any,” the press release said.

This death is the 28th homicide in Minneapolis this year.

Body-camera footage released by Atlanta police on July 2, 2020, shows an officer running along a path and then requesting to borrow a man’s bicycle to chase a murder suspect.