Star Tribune
Man charged with jumping fence, walking onto MSP Airport runway
A 25-year-old man is charged with six misdemeanors for climbing a barbed wire fence and walking onto the runway at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last week, during one of the busiest travel days leading up to the holiday weekend.
Airport security cameras show Roel Adame Blanco squeezing between secured gates, climbing the fence and breaching the restricted area around 11 p.m. on Dec. 21, according to charges filed Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court.
Blanco, of Minneapolis, was arrested and remains in custody ahead of his first court appearance Wednesday.
Prosecutors have charged Blanco with trespassing, giving police a false name, committing runway incursion and several misdemeanor counts for being an unauthorized person in a prohibited airport area. The charges were first reported by Fox 9-TV.
Blanco had an active warrant for his arrest out of Anoka County stemming from a February 2020 theft charge. According to court records in that case, he was accused of shoplifting two speakers valued at $219 from Best Buy in Blaine. He pleaded guilty that April and received five years probation.
Records state that he later violated terms of probation, and bailed out of jail four weeks ago on $100 cash bond. A warrant was issued Dec. 6 for Blanco when he failed to appear in court the previous day.
According to the newly-filed charges in the airport incident:
Airport police responded to an employee reporting that a man without a badge was walking around the ramp area near Gate C22.
Officers approached Blanco, who admitted to jumping the fence by Gates 123, 124 and 125, then walking across the airfield and runway. Blanco said that he was not a ticketed passenger or airport employee, and that he was trying to get to a gas station.
Upon his arrest, Blanco identified himself as Antonio Blanco Victoriano with a Jan. 1, 2023 birthdate. He had a Mexico ID card with his name on it, but said the card belonged to his cousin. Court records list a Minneapolis address for Blanco.
Officers ran his fingerprints to identify him as Blanco, which also surfaced the warrant.
In an interview at the airport’s police operations center, Blanco said he got off the light-rail train at the Fort Snelling Station, walked by some brick houses and saw “Military” on a sign, which he said made him nervous.
He admitted to approaching two security gates and following employees through the first gate. At the second gate, he said, he saw a mounted security camera and barbed wire that he climbed over. Blanco admitted that he also saw a sign on the gate noting it was a restricted area.
He said that he walked across the field and runway toward a large parking lot, where officers arrested him. Security footage confirmed his narrative.
“Even though there’s a lot of energy, creativity and hard work going on around downtown, never have we been more aligned in the direction we’re heading,” Duininck said.
To execute its plan, the city is convening a Downtown Action Council, a group that consists of representatives from the business, nonprofit and government sectors, including the Minnesota Vikings, Target and the Guthrie Theater.
A top priority for the group, from July 2024 to 2026, will be helping figure out the long-awaited transformation of Nicollet Mall into a pedestrian-only corridor. A task force Frey convened called the Vibrant Downtown Storefronts Workgroup made that suggestion and others for the thoroughfare back in June 2023. The city and its partners will have to determine where to move bus traffic and stops, but Frey said Marquette and Second avenues are ripe for that transition.
The plan would also focus time and resources on downtown’s Warehouse District, which Frey said “has the potential to be an entertainment Mecca.” The blocks between the North Loop and the central business district could have a social district that allows open containers, billboards and lights that help attract visitors from around the state.
“I’m not arguing that the Warehouse District is going to be like Times Square,” Frey said. “But I am arguing that we can create our own version of it right here in Minneapolis.”
Officials also emphasized efforts to make it easier for developers to convert downtown office buildings to housing and other uses. Frey touted the city’s Vibrant Storefronts initiative, which has been connecting property owners with vacant storefronts to local artists.
Star Tribune
Two more victims from encampment shootings identified as Mayor Frey says, ‘This is about fentanyl.’
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner has identified three murder victims from two separate shootings at homeless encampments this weekend in Minneapolis as three others were left with life-threatening injuries.
Christopher Martell Washington, 38, of Fridley, and Louis Mitchell Lemons, Jr., 32, of Brooklyn Center, were identified Monday afternoon as the two men who died from multiple gunshot wounds on Sunday afternoon in the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue. Deven Leonard Caston, 31, was identified as the victim at an encampment shooting near E. 21st Street and 15th Avenue S. that happened Saturday.
Minneapolis Police Spokesman Sgt. Garrett Parten, said it was unclear if there was a connection between the shootings but “we can’t rule it out.”
The city has dealt with several shootings in and around homeless encampments this year. Mayor Jacob Frey attended a news conference Sunday after the shooting on Snelling Avenue and said the city needs to continue to provide options for people seeking shelter. But, he said, encampments are not an alternative answer.
“Yet again we have more people that are dead,” he said. “We need to be honest and realistic about what is happening right now. We need to call a spade a spade. This is not about a lack of shelter. This is about fentanyl.”
Officers initially detained three people in the shooting of Washington and Lemons Jr., but were released after police found they were not believed to be involved in the shooting. No charges had been filed in either shooting as of Monday.
Ward 12 Council Member Aurin Chowdhury, who represents the area and lives nearby, was at the site of Sunday’s shooting. She said officials need information about what happened to better understand how to address situations like this long-term.
“This is an absolute tragedy, and this type of violence should never occur within our city,” she said. “It really makes me think about how we need to look at this more systemically and not just take a whack-a-mole approach and expect the problem to go away.”
Inside Paper Source, which has been in the mall since 2016, senior sales lead Carrie Helman-Menard said foot traffic has changed at the mall.
“It is quiet,” she said. “This street was a lot different even, you know, six years ago. The hobby stores down that way closed. Salut, closed. Anthropolgie, closed. J Crew, etc. There were a lot more people bustling, shopping.”
Grand, she said, can be that way again, but it “needs businesses. Needs people.”
A new development at Grand and Victoria could be just what’s needed, she said.
“People will come,” she said, pointing to her store’s customers continuing to walk through Paper Source’s door. “They get excited that something’s here. People are grateful. They’ll come in here and say, ‘Oh my god, I’m so glad you’re here.’ So that feels good. A lot of people want that hustle and bustle back.”
Simon Taghioff, president of the Summit Hill Association board, said Parritz made “an information only” presentation to the board earlier this month. Parritz, he said, shared “a lot of optimism in how it could transform that corner in a positive way.”
