Star Tribune
Man fatally shot in Minneapolis homeless encampment
A 45-year old man was shot and killed Tuesday evening in a large homeless encampment in south Minneapolis’ Phillips neighborhood.
Officers responded around 5:15 p.m. to reports of the shooting at Camp Nenookaasi, Minneapolis Police Department spokesperson Aaron Rose said at a news briefing.
The homeless encampment is southeast of the intersection of 23rd Street and 13th Avenue, and has recently housed around 180 people, according to its organizers.
Early investigation indicates the shooting took place inside a tent at the fenced-in encampment, Rose said. Police performed CPR before medical responders arrived and took over. The man was taken in an ambulance to HCMC, where he was pronounced dead despite the lifesaving efforts there, Rose said.
A man suspected of shooting the victim was found near the encampment and arrested, and officers recovered a gun near him, Rose said. Another man was arrested inside the camp, but Rose said it’s unclear what his involvement was in the killing.
Joseph Kerr, who goes by Joker, said he was at the encampment and saw people run toward the tent to break up an argument before about six shots rang out.
The camp’s occupants were ordered to evacuate while police investigated.
Police still had the camp closed off around 8 p.m., and camp occupants were huddling on the sidewalks and gathering on a parked Metro Transit bus where they could warm up. Rose was unsure what time residents would be let back in.
The city had planned to dismantle the camp Thursday, but it has now been delayed to Dec. 19, according to an email from Enrique Velázquez, the city’s director of regulatory services, sent to City Council Member Jamal Osman.
City officials said public safety and health concerns prompted the decision to close the encampment.
The delay comes after a majority of City Council members asked Mayor Jacob Frey last week to hold off on closure until mid-February. That request came days after a scores of encampment supporters at a public hearing voiced opposition to clearing the camp.
One reason Velázquez listed for the delay was that 52 of the occupants are set to move into housing between Dec. 14 and 18, through the city’s partnership with Helix Health and Housing Services.
This latest camp was set up after the city cleared out another encampment along Hiawatha Avenue, known as the Wall of Forgotten Natives. Organizers and some council members have recently praised the new encampment, saying it’s more organized and strictly run than other tent cities.
Some neighboring organizations have opposed the camp and pleaded for the city to dismantle it. Rose noted that police have had safety concerns about the camp, and cited one other serious shooting incident there in the last month.
A couple of people who live near the encampment said Tuesday they were dismayed by the shooting, saying they think it’s been more well-run than past encampments in the area.
“I’ve picked up fewer needles around my house with this encampment than I have since heroin came to Minnesota,” said Mary Ellen Kaluza, who has lived in the neighborhood for nearly 50 years.
Two people from Minnetonka were killed late Friday afternoon when their GMC Suburban ran a stop sign and was struck by a GMC Yukon headed north on Hwy. 169 west of Palisade, Minn.
According to the State Patrol, Marlo Dean Baldwin, 92, and Elizabeth Jane Baldwin, 61, were dead at the scene. The driver of the Suburban, a 61-year-old Minnetonka man, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Suburban, pulling a trailer, was headed east on Grove Street/County Rd. 3 at about 5:15 p.m. when it failed to stop at Hwy. 169 and was struck by the northbound Yukon. The Yukon then struck two westbound vehicles stopped at the intersection.
Four people from Zimmerman, Minn., in the Yukon, including the driver, were taken to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, while two passengers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Three girls in the Yukon ranged in age from 11 to 15.
The drivers of the two vehicles struck by the Yukon were not injured, the State Patrol said. Road conditions were dry at the time of the accident, and alcohol was not believed to have been a factor. All involved in the accident were wearing a seat belt except for Elizabeth Baldwin.
Hill City police and the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
Amid the cacophony and chaos of the pregame preparation before a recent Minnetonka High School football game, an exceptional group of six girls is gathered together among the school’s deep and talented cheerleading and dance teams.
The cheerleaders, a national championship-winning program of 40 girls, dot the track around the football field. As the clock ticks down to kickoff and their night of choreographed routines begins, the six girls, proudly wearing Minnetonka blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Skippers Nation” and shaking shiny pom-poms, swirl around the track, bristling with excited energy.
Their circumstances are no different from any of the other cheerleaders with one notable exception: The girls on this team have special needs.
They’re members of the Minnetonka Sparklers, a squad of cheerleaders made up solely of girls with special needs.
A football game at Minnetonka High School is an elaborate production. The Skippers’ recent homecoming victory over Shakopee brought an announced crowd of 8,145. And that is just paying attendees; it doesn’t include school staffers, coaches, dance team, marching band, concession workers, media members and others going about their business attached to the game.
The Sparklers program, now in its 12th season, was the brainchild of Marcy Adams, a former Minnetonka cheerleader who initiated the program in her senior year of high school. Adams has been coach of the team since its inception, staying on through her tenure as a cheerleader at the University of Minnesota.
She started the program after experiencing the Unified Sports program at Minnetonka. The unified sports movement at high schools brings together student-athletes with cognitive or physical disabilities and athletes with no disabilities to foster relationships, understanding and compassion through athletics. Many Minnesota schools offer unified sports.
“I grew up in a household that valued students with special needs and valued inclusion,” Adams said. “I saw a need to give to those students. At Minnetonka, we have a strong Unified program, and this was a great opportunity to build relationships and offer mentorship opportunities.”
Elite runners are in a league of their own.
To get a sense of how far ahead elite runners are compared to the rest of us, the Minnesota Star Tribune took a look at how their times compare to the average marathon participant.
The 2022 Twin Cities Marathon men’s winner was Japanese competitor Yuya Yoshida, who ran the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, for an average speed of 11.96 mph. He averaged 5 minutes and 2 seconds per mile.
That’s more than twice the speed of the average competitor across both the men’s and women’s categories, of 5.89 mph, according to race results site Mtec. The average participant finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 56 seconds. That comes out to an average time of 10 minutes and 11 seconds per mile.
And taking it to the most extreme, the fastest-ever marathon runner, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours and 35 seconds, for an average pace of about 13 mph. Kiptum averaged 4 minutes and 36 seconds per mile.
Here is a graphic showing these differences in average marathon speed.
