Star Tribune
Bloomington offers hopeful model for reducing police clashes with people in mental distress
For more than a quarter-century, James Ayers met with some of the most vulnerable residents in Minneapolis. As the former director of Walk-In Counseling Center, a free and anonymous counseling center on Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis that is staffed by volunteers, he witnessed the value of accessible mental health services.
“The tendency is to take a policing approach, to correct it without getting into what the hell is going on,” he told me.
It’s also why he and other counselors have praised a Bloomington police pilot program that aims to help residents gain access to counseling services when they call 911 during an emergency. The department has been nationally recognized after hiring two marriage and family therapists to help people address life challenges that may demand a mental health professional rather than a police officer.
“The whole idea is that people generally don’t deal with mental health issues until there is blood on the floor,” Ayers said. “And you can get ahead of the game by providing services as soon as possible when people are asking for it. The whole rationale for a walk-in counseling center is that you’ve gotta make it easy for people to talk. And that’s done by privacy, professionalism, timeliness. What’s going on in Bloomington is a good start.”
When I was a child, a relative of mine endured a mental health crisis outside our church. I was too young to understand the totality of mental health then, but I remember the moment when police arrived. One by one, they surrounded him. I was afraid. He wasn’t harmed but the possibility seemed real.
Every police department — and many have partnered with mental health organizations in recent years — should employ resources to address individuals facing mental health crises, as those situations can quickly deteriorate. Counselors and therapists, Bloomington’s program has shown, may help residents find solutions and avoid those encounters with police. They may also help families and individuals process their collective challenges before they matriculate and lead to violence and damage in their homes and communities.
The complexities and problems in policing here and elsewhere are well-documented. The model in Bloomington is one that could work throughout the Twin Cities, but only if patients’ privacy is protected and not improperly used by police. There is value in independent counseling services, but those services are not always attainable for those who need them most.
In Bloomington, more than 4,000 people are uninsured, according to the department, and the service gives those people access to therapists whom they might not see otherwise because of that barrier. To many, 911 is the universal number to call when there is a serious situation they can’t resolve on their own. That’s a habit we’ve all developed over time. Yet, a call to that number should not always start with a police response. If anything, the presence of counselors allows for nuance and patience in these scenarios, says the Minnesota Counseling Association, the local chapter of the American Counseling Association.
Star Tribune
Man accused of Lyndale Avenue gunfire, homicide near Willmar is ID’d by law enforcement
A murder charge could come as soon as Thursday against a 25-year-old man who’s accused of firing shots from an apartment balcony in the heart of Minneapolis’ Lyn-Lake neighborhood before he fled and shot two people near Willmar as he attempted in vain to evade law enforcement in a high-speed chase.
The suspect, who is from Hopkins, remains held without bail in the Kandiyohi County jail on suspicion of second-degree murder in connection with a shooting Tuesday afternoon.
Kandiyohi County Attorney Shane Baker said he’s not expecting to file charges Wednesday. Charges are also pending in Hennepin County stemming from the early afternoon gunfire. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged. Minnesota court records show nothing in the man’s criminal background other than a minor drug paraphernalia conviction and numerous parking and driving violations.
Tuesday’s events unfolded shortly before 1 p.m., when police were called to an apartment complex at the 2900 block of Lyndale Avenue S., where the man fired off several rounds into the street from the building’s top floor.
Police shuttered the busy intersection and surrounding blocks from W. 28th to Lake streets in the densely populated commercial and residential corridor as they attempted to negotiate his surrender.
According to a Tuesday night release from the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office, the man traveled west through several counties and then shot and injured a man at a rural Kandiyohi County residence. Police say the suspect then fatally shot a motorist that he attempted to carjack at the Hwy. 71 and Hwy. 23 bypass southeast of Willmar. Police were eventually able to take the man into custody. He was jailed in Kandiyohi County on charges that include murder.
A medical examiner will release the victim’s name after an autopsy and family is notified.
“Today, multiple lives were put in harm’s way, with one person sadly losing their life,” Kandiyohi County Sheriff Spokesperson Imran Ali said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. Please continue to hold the victims, their families and our first responders in your prayers today.”
Kelly, who was chief of staff to Trump, said the former president lacks empathy and has no understanding or respect for the U.S. Constitution. Walz encouraged everyone to read the stories in the New York Times and The Atlantic, and also encouraged everyone to vote.
Reporters, who haven’t had a chance to question Walz since July, also asked Walz how he voted on the St. Paul child care referendum that would add to the property tax to help low-income residents pay for child care. Walz said he was following Mayor Melvin Carter’s comments on that. Carter has said if the referendum passes, he will not enforce it.
But for the massive security detail, some with assault rifles, and a motorcade of more than a dozen vehicles clogging the parking lot, the voting process itself was normal. But the event involved media first gathering in vans and SUVs outside Eastcliff on the East River Road, where the Walz family is living during the renovations of the governor’s residence on Summit Avenue.
After the Walz family got in their SUV, the caravan headed out for 10-minute a white-knuckle ride through through eastbound traffic on Interstate 94, past the Xcel Energy Center, over the Mississippi River to the Ramsey County elections office at 90 Plato Boulevard under the westside cliffs.
Emerging form his SUV, Walz said a blanket, “Good morning” to the gathered media. He thanked election workers individually as he walked into the office for his ballot.
The first lady wore a plum-colored suit while the governor wore a gray jacket over a maroon sweater and navy pants. Gus Walz was in full Minnesota fall regalia, dark sweatpants, a gray Bemidji State University hoodie and Birkenstock sandals with socks.
A jury found a longtime farmhand in southern Minnesota guilty in the killing of his boss, a man whose death prosecutors argued would bring the debt-ridden worker a “significant financial benefit.”
Travis Joel Bauer, 48, of Winthrop, was found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury in Sibley County District Court on Friday. The jury, after deliberating until 9 p.m., also found him not guilty of first-degree murder with premeditation.
Bauer was arrested last year in connection with the 2022 shooting of his boss, Dennis D. Weitzenkamp, 79.
Winthrop police found Weitzenkamp in his machine shed, slumped over to the left side of his body, with a bloody gunshot wound in the back of his head and no weapon within reach, court filings said. Weitzenkamp appeared to have been about to shuck an ear of corn, police said.
Bauer had helped Weitzenkamp “farm his land for many years and was considered part of the family,” a complaint against him read. Weitzenkamp was an Army veteran who served during the Vietnam War and moved to the Winthrop area in 1998, his online obituary said. He was survived by his wife of 37 years, five stepchildren, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and enjoyed “watching sports, playing cards, bowling, traveling with family, driving trucks and wintering in Florida,” the obituary added.
Bauer told police that he never saw Weitzenkamp at the farm property after they left for separate lunch breaks. But law enforcement analysis of Bauer’s and Weitzenkamp’s cellphones showed they were both at the farm at the time of the killing. The cap and pants Bauer had on that day had gunshot residue on them, police said.
Law enforcement’s argued Bauer’s finances “had significant debt and was behind on bills,” and that he received calls that he could lose his home if he didn’t pay his debts an hour before Weitzenkamp was found dead. Trust documents disclosed to investigators that Bauer “would receive significant financial benefit” from Weitzenkamp’s death, prosecutors said.
Sibley County Attorney, Don Lannoye, said prosecutors were pleased at the verdict.
