Star Tribune
Teen pleads guilty to role in shooting that wounded on-duty MPD officer
A 17-year-old boy pleaded guilty and was sentenced in Hennepin County Juvenile Court for his role in a shooting that wounded an on-duty Minneapolis police officer in August.
William Ward Jr., who did not fire the shot that struck the officer, was charged with attempted second-degree murder. The plea deal calls for him to receive treatment at the Red Wing juvenile facility for an indeterminate time and remain on extended probation with a suspended 13-year adult sentence until he’s 21, according to court records.
At Ward’s sentencing Wednesday, officer Jacob Spies provided a victim impact statement in front of his colleagues and Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell before Judge Mark Kappelhoff accepted the plea agreement.
MPD officials confirmed that Spies, a seven-year department veteran who was shot in the shoulder, was cleared to return to work full-time in early November.
Spies was pursuing a robbery suspect Aug. 11 on the North Side when gunfire struck the back of his shoulder. Four people were arrested and three faced charges of attempted second-degree murder or aiding attempted murder in the aftermath.
Frederick Leon Davis Jr., 19, of Minneapolis is accused of shooting Spies and his trial is slated for March.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office petitioned to have Ward, also of Minneapolis, certified as an adult and stand trial in adult court.
But last week, prosecutors and public defender’s reached negotiation. In exchange for Ward admitting to the attempted murder charge, the state agreed to drop its petition and instead designate Ward as extended jurisdiction juvenile (EJJ), according to court records.
Charges do not list a motive for the shooting, or indicate whether the suspects knew they were shooting at law enforcement. In addition to driving an unmarked sedan with tinted windows, Spies was wearing a blue Minneapolis police T-shirt rather than full uniform.
According to the criminal complaint:
Just before 8 p.m., officers observed a white Chevrolet Equinox in the area of a robbery that had just occurred in north Minneapolis. The SUV initially pulled over but then sped away.
Spies was driving alone in the unmarked vehicle when he saw the Chevy about an hour later and pursued it for about a mile. As he crested a hill, Spies noticed the Chevy parked near by the curb with its lights off. Suddenly he was hit by a volley of automatic gunfire and felt his arm go numb.
Spies drove off and a backup officer pulled him from the vehicle and raced him to the hospital. Backup officers later spotted the Chevy and initiated a high-speed chase that continued for 26 blocks until the Chevy crashed into a parked car.
Two suspects, later identified as Davis and Nevaeh Lee Page, 20, fled on foot. Ward “stumbled out of the car with an apparent head injury,” while another man— who wasn’t charged— remained in the vehicle until he was arrested.
Investigators found two firearms in the car: a fully automatic Glock 19, equipped with a switch, on the front floorboard where Davis was sitting, as well as a Polymer 80 9-millimeter “ghost gun” without serial numbers in the back where Ward was sitting.
Preliminary ballistics evidence suggests the Glock fired 12 shots and the 9-mm fired three.
As part of the plea deal, Ward has a lifetime firearm ban.
Star Tribune staff writer Liz Sawyer contributed to this report.
Josh Franklin, an attorney from St. Paul, stopped for a moment in the middle of First Avenue to admire the large “Go Lynx” text painted on the street. He thinks the timing of the team’s success is beneficial to the city, mentioning it would be the first professional championship in Minnesota since before the pandemic, and the unrest following the murder of George Floyd.
“Seeing this here … in 2024 just really gives an entirely new feeling to the city, bringing back togetherness,” Franklin said.
Minneapolis City Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw attended Tuesday night’s game with fellow Council Member Andrea Jenkins. Vetaw believes there’s more confidence in the Lynx’s chances this year given their past success.
“We got hyped up about the Timberwolves, but there’s a little bit more certainty in this,” Vetaw said.
In interviews with fans leaving the arena and others who watched at the Minneapolis women’s sports bar A Bar of Their Own, most said they had started following the team closely in the past several years. The popularity of Indiana rookie guard Caitlin Clark has brought new attention to women’s basketball. But some have been watching for much longer.
“I always thought women’s sports were popular, I think everybody just kind of joined the bandwagon,” said Crystal Ruiz, a season-ticket holder.
CBRE, which marketed the property, declined to comment on the sale.
Adam Duininck, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council, said while the low sales prices might sound alarming, there are bright spots. Homeowners in the city are facing a few tough years of property tax increases as commercial values drop, he acknowledged. But the lower prices have also enabled new players to buy downtown properties, paving the way for fresh ideas to transform the urban core.
“Hopefully, they come into the market with a certain kind of energy and optimism that helps drive the market back up,” he said, adding public safety improvements have also fueled recent momentum.
Take the Kickernick Building, which recently opened an art gallery. Earlier this year, Twin Cities-based United Properties sold the historic former warehouse on the edge of the CBD for $3.79 million. In 2017, United paid $19.5 million for the building.
Just a couple blocks away, Tom McCarver and Steve Boynton bought a mixed-use, nearly 31,000-square-foot building at the corner of Seventh Street and Hennepin Avenue that most recently housed Seven Steakhouse & Sushi. Last month, they paid about $4.3 million, slightly more than half of what it sold for in November 2017.
Tom McCarver, CEO of Hennepin Real Estate Partners LLC, poses Tuesday on the rooftop of the Stimson Building in Minneapolis that formerly housed Seven Steakhouse & Sushi. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
After the restaurant closed during the pandemic, the building went into receivership and up for auction. McCarver and Boynton, executives at a company that owns billboards across the metro, were among nearly a dozen bidders. They won the auction in March, but because of “legal hurdles,” the sale didn’t close until last month.
A third wildfire burning within the Superior National Forest was discovered Tuesday near Bogus Lake in Cook County.
The fire, 45 acres in size, was active overnight into Wednesday as firefighters and aircraft continued suppression efforts, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The cause is unknown.
Bogus Lake is less than 20 miles northeast of Grand Marais.
A drought has put much of the upper Midwest, from northern Minnesota to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, under “above normal” conditions for potential wildland fire, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
The Bogus Lake Fire is the second wildfire to be discovered in the Superior National Forest this week and the third one actively burning since early September.
Monday, a fire was detected on the eastern side of Shell Lake, about 4 miles north of Road 116 within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in St. Louis County. That fire is less than one acre, with the potential to spread east near Agawato Lake and the Sioux-Hustler Hiking Trail, the Forest Service said.
That fire grew to 45 acres and half of it was contained as of Oct. 1, according to the Forest Service. It is suspected of being caused by humans. Firefighters remain assigned to the fire.
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