Star Tribune
Cougar living in Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, city, DNR warn
Cougar tracks were spotted in the snow in a Minneapolis neighborhood Tuesday morning, one day after the big cat was captured on home security video footage.
The cougar sauntered across the driveway of a Lowry Hill home about 3:30 a.m. Monday, surprising the homeowner, who was at his Wisconsin cabin when he saw the alert on his smart phone.
“I thought it was one of those morning dreams where you doze off and it seems really realistic,” said Rick, who asked that his last name not be used to avoid further commotion in the neighborhood.
Late Tuesday afternoon, officials with Minneapolis Animal Care and Control and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said they had confirmed that a cougar was living around the 1700 block of Logan Avenue S., in the Lowry Hill neighborhood not far from Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake. They warned the public in that area to be cautious.
“Parents of small children should pay increased attention when outside,” said Caroline Hairfield, the city’s animal control director, in a statement. “Pet owners with small dogs or cats should supervise their animals when they are outdoors.”
The agencies were working together on tracking the cougar, and reminded the public that it’s against the law to hunt a non-game animal. The DNR and other licensed peace officers may remove the cougar if it poses a threat to public safety.
Rick, the Lowry Hill homeowner who captured the cougar on his home video, said he has seen a few cougars — also known as mountain lions — before. But having one pass his house in the city was surreal, he said, and didn’t properly sink in until after his morning coffee.
Rick said he called police and sent the footage to the DNR. He worried about whether the cat would be able to find its way out of the city, and for the safety of his neighbors and pets.
He and his wife woke up Tuesday to find a bloody trail in their driveway, stretching from the garage to the street, that he suspected was left by a mutilated raccoon.
Rick sent the video to neighbor Dan Bruggeman, who said he was shocked to see the apex predator on his block.
“There’s a sense of excitement, to have something like that in your neighborhood, but also a sense of concern,” he said.
Even more surprising was seeing cougar tracks in the street Tuesday morning after Monday night’s snowfall, he added.
Robyn Bruggeman posted the video Monday on the neighborhood website Nextdoor, eliciting more than 50 comments from people expressing shock, awe and concern for the animal. She wrote that authorities had been notified about the sighting.
The video shows the cougar leaping over a 4-foot fence. Rick said it would’ve also had to jump the house’s 6-foot fence, not shown on the video, to make it by the garages.
This marks only the second time a cougar has been spotted in Hennepin County since 2004, though a cougar was found dead in Bloomington in 2020 after it apparently was hit by a vehicle on a freeway.
A cougar was spotted on video in Duluth this summer, and another was seen a few weeks ago in Carver County. A Wisconsin bowhunter fearing for his safety shot and killed a cougar last month east of Alma, Wis., just downriver from Wabasha, Minn.
There have been over 80 verified cougar occurrences in Minnesota since the DNR began tracking them around 2007. Seeing one of the big cats in a densely populated urban area like Minneapolis is “extremely rare,” said Dan Stark of the DNR.
This year has seen an estimated 16 to 20 occurrences in Minnesota, the most ever. Verified sightings have increased in recent years, though it’s not clear whether that’s due to more cougars passing through or more home security cameras, Stark said.
Occurrences have been scattered across the state, from Duluth to Bemidji, from the Rochester area to Aitkin County, he said.
If you run into a cougar, don’t approach or corner it. The best thing to do is to appear bigger by holding your hands above your head, waving a hat or jacket and throwing rocks or sticks at the animal, Stark said. Make a lot of noise, and pick up small children and pets. Whatever you do, don’t run; if the cougar attacks, it’s recommended to fight back.
Encounters and sightings should be reported as soon as possible to a conservation officer or local law enforcement so that evidence — such as tracks, hair and scat — can be documented. Hairfield said residents should report sightings to 311 or the DNR at 651-296-6157.
Star Tribune
Man sentenced to more than 30 years in murder of fellow resident at West St. Paul group home
A 43-year-old man was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison Friday for stabbing to death a fellow resident at a state-operated mental health group home in West St. Paul.
John C. Adams II was found guilty in September in Dakota County District Court of intentional second-degree murder in the death of David Rahn, 68, in 2020. Adams will get credit for 1,777 days already served on his 367-month sentence, and was ordered to pay $2,088 in restitution.
According to the criminal complaint, Adams stabbed Rahn dozens of times in the early morning of Feb. 17, 2020, at the home in the 1500 block of Christensen Avenue. After a staff member heard Rahn scream for help and called 911, police found Rahn unresponsive on the floor of his bedroom with stab wounds to his face, neck and back. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Adams at first claimed self-defense and later said Rahn had stabbed himself. But the medical examiner found evidence that the victim had tried to fend off the attack. Police found a bloody kitchen knife and a pair of blood-soaked gloves inside bags left at a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses across the street.
Adams was convicted of third-degree assault in 2001 in Hennepin County for smashing a glass in a woman’s face in downtown Minneapolis. The court found him to be “a clear danger to the safety of others” and mentally incompetent to stand trial. His sentence was set aside in exchange for him being put under Security Hospital supervision for at least three years.
In October 2018, Adams was granted provisional discharge from the Security Hospital to the home on Christensen Avenue, but that discharge was revoked less than nine months later for violations of the discharge conditions.
The home of one of three group home operated by the state Department of Human Services for people civilly committed for a mental illness and then discharged from a DHS treatment facility.
Staff writer Paul Walsh contributed to this story.
Health insurer UCare has reached an agreement with HealthPartners clinics, which will allow thousands of patients to continue seeing the same doctors without switching health plans next year.
The two companies announced the agreement Friday evening. The terms are effective immediately.
“As mission-driven organizations, UCare and HealthPartners share a commitment to improving health outcomes for our community, and the organizations’ ongoing collaboration reflects that shared goal,” a joint statement said.
The clinics had been out of network for several years, but UCare had waived rules that would have blocked patients from making appointments. UCare said it would start enforcing the network rules Jan. 1.
Star Tribune
Man charged in Brooklyn Park homicide had connection to 2022 Mall of America fatal shooting
A 19-year-old Coon Rapids man, who played a role in a 2022 fatal shooting at the Mall of America, is facing murder charges in connection with an apparent targeted shooting earlier this month in Brooklyn Park.
Citing witnesses, surveillance footage and cell phone data, prosecutors say that Marquan D. Tucker waited in a parking lot Dec. 7 before opening fire on two people when they exited a business in the 8000 block of Brooklyn Boulevard.
The two victims returned fire, though one was wounded and the other, Ramone R. Blue, 23, of Stewartville, Minn., was killed. The complaint, filed Friday, offers no motive for the shooting.
The shooting happened about seven months after Tucker was discharged from court monitoring related to the 2022 fatal shooting of 19-year-old Johntae Hudson in a department store at the Mall of America, according to court records.
Tucker was charged with third-degree riot in the case and was adjudicated as delinquent, or found guilty, court records said. He was one of three teens who confronted or chased Hudson into the store where the shooting happened. The two teens who carried guns received long prison sentences.
Tucker was being held Friday at the Hennepin County jail. It wasn’t clear if he yet had an attorney.
According to the criminal complaint:
Surveillance video shows a black BMW pull into the parking lot in Brooklyn Park around 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 7. As the two victims exit a business, a man leaves the passenger seat of the BMW, hides behind another car and fires about 16 shots. The gunman then flees in the BMW.
