Star Tribune
Brawl inside Dinkytown tobacco shop led to shooting that killed 2, injured clerk
A brawl inside a Dinkytown tobacco shop early Sunday preceded a shooting that left two dead and a clerk injured, according to social media posts that showed the moments leading up to the deadly encounter, which came amid other weekend gun violence in Minneapolis.
Bystander videos filmed inside Royal Cigar & Tobacco at 14th Avenue and 4th Street SE. depicted a melee involving at least seven men, with two exchanging punches on the floor as products spilled from shelves. Two men in ski masks were seen with their arms extended toward the scuffle — apparently aiming firearms — followed by a pop.
In a two-second clip, two of the men previously seen fighting lay motionless on the floor. Both died at the scene.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victims late Monday as Bryson Lamarr Haskell and Jamartre Michael Sanders, both 24 and from Minneapolis.
Chaos erupted between two groups of customers in the tiny smoke shop just outside the University of Minnesota campus around 2:15 a.m., shortly after its posted closing time. It marked the continuation of a bloody stretch in Minneapolis, where at least 12 people have been shot and killed since Nov. 1 — an unusually high death toll for this time of year.
A store employee, also in his 20s, was taken to HCMC with at least one noncritical gunshot wound. None of the three shot are believed to have been University of Minnesota students.
Minneapolis police declined to comment on the videos or speculate on possible motives, noting that the case remains under investigation. No arrests have been made.
City officials say they have no records to indicate that Royal Cigar was allowed to operate at the hour of the shooting.
In Minneapolis, municipal codes govern what hours a certain type of business can operate based on their zoning district. Standard hours in that area would have required Royal Cigar to close by 11 p.m. on a Saturday. Local establishments can apply for a permit that allows them to extend their hours, but approval is contingent on a public hearing before the City Council.
“I’m not finding any record of an extended hours license for that location,” said Amy Lingo, the city’s manager for licenses and consumer services. Only one tobacco shop – A to Z Tobacco in downtown — holds an extended hours license until midnight.
The triple shooting has jump-started an investigative process between the city’s licensing office and Royal Cigar, which could ultimately lead to stricter enforcement measures, citations or even revocation. During a face-to-face meeting with the business owner, city officials plan to review their expectations and articulate “that they are not meeting them if people are coming in and getting into gunfights,” said Erik Hansen, the new director of Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED).
“We work to gain compliance. We do not want to see [violence] happen again,” Hansen continued, noting that compliance doesn’t always suffice. Sometimes, the city is forced to pull a business’ license.
Records indicate that Royal Cigar, whose license was first approved at that location in 2004, was cited in August for illegally selling its products to customers under 21 years old.
The shop reopened by Sunday afternoon.
On Monday, as classes resumed, a steady steam of students filtered past. Inside, the business appeared tidy, with no sign of the shootings that occurred less than 36 hours before.
A shop clerk declined to comment when approached by a Star Tribune reporter Monday, saying only: “We are OK.”
The registered business owners could not be reached for comment.
Lottie Madson popped into Royal Cigar on Monday afternoon with a friend, where they regularly shop for vapes and cigarettes. They heard about the shooting through word of mouth and media reports, but questioned why the University of Minnesota hadn’t pinged students about it through the SAFE-U emergency alert system.
“It doesn’t prevent me from going about my normal routine, but it’s sad,” said Madson, a senior architecture major. “They’re really nice in there.”
She recalled an incident in the shop last summer when a heated altercation spilled inside the store and the clerk advised she leave because “everyone is strapped” — meaning they were carrying firearms.
The tobacco shop falls just outside the area covered by that alert system, according to a map on the University of Minnesota’s website.
Public safety concerns in Marcy-Holmes, the neighborhood encompassing Dinkytown and surrounding areas where many U students live, have long been fueled by unruly teenagers out past curfew. However, MPD’s data dashboard shows that overall crime, including assaults, burglaries, thefts, robberies and shots-fired calls, are all down this year.
There have been 64 homicides in the city this year, according to a Star Tribune database.
Star Tribune staff writers Greta Kaul and Josie Albertson-Grove contributed to this story.
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.
Minnesota Lynx fans excited for return to dominance following playoff win
Hurricane Milton rips roof off Tropicana Field — Tampa Bay Rays stadium that was used as staging site for responders
Rafael Nadal, 22-time Grand Slam champion, is retiring from tennis after next month’s Davis Cup finals
Minnesota Lynx fans excited for return to dominance following playoff win
Hurricane Milton rips roof off Tropicana Field — Tampa Bay Rays stadium that was used as staging site for responders