Star Tribune
Armed robbers tie up couple in Golden Valley home, steal 8 pricy puppies, other valuables
Masked armed robbers hit a home in Golden Valley, tied up and gagged residents before making off with jewels, a sports car, eight high-priced purebred puppies and other valuables, officials said.
Police said they believe the crooks had inside help in pulling off the job late Saturday at the home in the 6300 block of Medicine Lake Road.
“This was an isolated incident, and we know based upon our initial investigation and talking with the victims these suspects had help from a family member,” Police Chief Virgil Green said in a statement. “They knew exactly what they were looking for when they entered the home.”
Green elaborated in an interview Wednesday that the relative is a nephew who immediately drew suspicion “when he showed up when he did.”
Once one of the residents opened the door, “that’s when the other three were let in the home,” the chief added.
While no arrests have been made as of Wednesday afternoon, Green continued, “we are confident the information we have about the suspects will lead to the arrest of those involved.”
The occupants of the home reported to police that at least three suspects wearing ski masks and carrying guns forced them into the kitchen and bound their hands, legs and mouths with duct tape.
Police say the suspects stole jewelry, gaming systems, designer purses and eight American Bully Merle puppies — three males and five females — valued at $5,000 to $10,000 each. The suspects also stole a 2019 Dodge Challenger, which was recovered Tuesday in Minneapolis, the chief said.
Green said the haul added up to more than $100,000 worth of valuables.
“They definitely used force trying to get [the residents] to open up a safe, and if they didn’t open it up, they would kill them,” the chief said.
A longtime friend of one of the residents elaborated that the intruders held guns to the victims’ head for 25 minutes while they gathered up the six-week-old puppies and some of the couple’s other possessions.
“Imagine being held in your home against your will [and] not knowing if your about to die or not,” Teshown Morris wrote on an online fundraising campaign whose mission is to help the couple recover financially. “They aren’t physically harmed [but] emotionally, mentally they are struggling to wrap their heads around this.”
Jessica Lee, who co-owns the puppies and has been in touch with her business partner since the robbery, said the suspects hauled the dogs away in a big plastic tote.
The puppies have yet to visit a veterinarian, are not vaccinated, “and they’re too young to leave their mom or even leave their house,” Lee said. “They are at super high risk for illness.”
Their mother was left behind and is in physical distress because she is not nursing, Lee said. “She’s very, very upset.”
A breeder in Anoka County who knows the couple and has been in contact with them said that “one of the four is still contacting [the couple] and threatening their lives.”
Joanna Kelly, who breeds American Bully Merle dogs, questions whether the thieves will be able to sell them.
“Anybody who does something like that doesn’t know a whole lot about dogs and pedigrees,” Kelly said, who runs her breeding operation from her Minneapolis home.
Kelly said it would be difficult to sell the puppies because “you need a breeding certificate if you want to sell one of these dogs. … They would have to falsify documents.”
American Bully Merle dogs are especially valuable because of a genetic abnormality that gives them irregular blotches on their coat, Kelly said.
“They are big marshmallows in a lot of ways,” she said. “They are loving, fierce protectors but not with that unpredictability reputation that pitbulls have.”
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to contact police at 763-593-8059 or at police@goldenvalleymn.gov.
Northern State 35, Concordia (St. Paul) 34: Wyatt Block’s 2-yard TD run and the PAT with 10 seconds remaining lifted the Wolves past the host Golden Bears. Block’s touchdown capped an 11-play, 72-yard drive by the Wolves, who trailed 24-7 in the second quarter. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire’s 34-yard field goal with three minutes, 32 seconds remaining gave the Golden Bears a 34-28 lead.
Winona State 31, Bemidji State 28: Cade Stenstrom rushed for two TDs and passed for 150 yards and a TD to help the host Warriors outlast the Beavers. Stenstrom’s 1-yard TD run and the PAT with two minutes, 10 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 31-21 lead. The Beavers responded with an 11-play, 93-yard drive to pull within 31-28 with 18 seconds remaining but the Warriors recovered the ensuing kickoff.
Div. I-AA
North Dakota State 59, Murray State 6: The top-ranked Bison built a 42-3 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the host Racers in Murray, Ken. CharMar Brown ran for 97 yards and three TDs for the Bison.
South Dakota State 20, South Dakota 17 (OT): Amar Johnson’s 3-yard TD run in overtime lifted the host Jackrabbits to the victory. The Coyotes opened the OT with a 40-yard field goal.
Youngstown State 41, North Dakota 40 (OT): The host Penguins went first in OT and scored and then stopped North Dakota’s two-point conversion to hold on for the victory. The Penguins sent the game into OT on a 35-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Div. III
Augsburg 35, St. Olaf 34 (OT): The host Auggies stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to outlast the Oles. The Auggies went first in the overtime and scored on a 25-yard pass from Ryan Harvey to Tyrone Wilson. It was Harvey’s fifth TD pass — the fourth to Wilson. After the Auggies’ PAT, the Oles scored on a 25-yard TD pass from Theo Doran to Braden Menz. But the Oles’ pass attempt for the conversion failed.
After splitting their two-game West Coast trip to begin the season, the Wolves improved to 2-1 with a 112-101 win over Toronto in their home opener. It was a wire-to-wire win that featured some strong bursts of play from the Wolves and other times when their decision-making was suspect. But those moments when they were on, specifically the start of the game and most of the third quarter, were enough to carry them against a shorthanded Raptors team that was without RJ Barrett, Bruce Brown and Immanuel Quickley.
Julius Randle had 24 points while Anthony Edwards had 24 on 21 shot attempts. Donte DiVincenzo had 16 off the bench. Nickeil Alexander-Walker left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return, though he was in the bench area for the final minutes after going to the locker room briefly.
The Wolves’ starting lineup had its best stretch of basketball on the season after that unit started off sluggish in the first two games. Mike Conley, who was 3-for-16 to open the year, hit two early threes to set the tone, though Conley would finish 2-for-8.
Donte DiVincenzo replaced him at point guard halfway through the quarter and continued the hot shooting from the point guard slot with three threes of his own. The Wolves forced five Toronto turnovers and had a 32-18 lead after one.
Coach Chris Finch toyed with some different lineup combinations in the first half as he had Conley and DiVincenzo begin the quarter together while having Joe Ingles run the point later in the quarter. It led to an uneven second, and the Wolves led 56-44 at halftime.
But the Wolves played inspired coming out of the break. Jaden McDaniels, who didn’t take a shot in the first half, had nine points in the opening minutes of the third. Edwards hit a pair of threes as they pushed their lead to 22. The Wolves weren’t sharp closing the night, and the Raptors had the game within right inside of two minutes, but the Wolves had built enough of a cushion.
Rudy Gobert. Gobert had 15 points and 13 rebounds and was the beneficiary of some lobs from his teammates like Edwards, Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Joe Ingles. Gobert also finished with four blocks.
Gobert had two blocks on one possession in the fourth quarter that got the crowd off its feet and Gobert pounding his chest. Gobert blocked D.J. Carton and Jamison Battle.
Star Tribune
Trump denigrates Detroit while appealing for votes in a suburb of Michigan’s largest city
NOVI, Mich. — Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.
”I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is ”great,” but he thinks it ”needs help.”
The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the ”whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population.
Trump’s stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City, is a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris is scheduled for a rally in Kalamazoo later Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama on the first day that early in-person voting becomes available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters. Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden carried it four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Workers. It also has a significant Arab American population, and many have been frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters ”could turn the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was banking on ”overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
“When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. ”We didn’t have any issues. There was no wars.”
While Trump is trying to capitalize on the community’s frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and a pledge to expand it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on Nov. 5.
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