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Community mourns Shakopee student-athlete who died after crash
Mikayla McCarvel was involved in a collision Dec. 26 and passed away Tuesday from her injuries.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. — Teammates, classmates and the larger Shakopee community are mourning the loss of a promising student-athlete who died Tuesday of injuries suffered in a late-December car crash.
Her father posted on her CaringBridge site that although she put up a tremendous fight, the injuries Mikayla McCarvel suffered in the Dec. 26 crash were simply too significant to overcome. Dan McCarvel shared that his daughter was able to “grant several prayers of other families who were waiting ever so patiently on a donor registry.”
“Mikayla’s life was one filled with endless adventure. It was hard to keep up with all the things she wanted to do next,” wrote Dan McCarvel. “She was never one to shy away from something new for fear of failure or embarrassment. To best honor her – go try something new…find that new adventure.”
Her father made sure to thank the medical team that cared for Mikayla, and everyone who shared messages, stories, and prayed for her.
Mikayla McCarvel’s life was full, with hockey and soccer, band, 4-H and her dedication to academic excellence. Following a recent game, her Shakopee Sabers teammates and opponents from Prior Lake gathered at center ice to kneel, wrap their arms around each other, and pray for her recovery. Hundreds of messages of condolence on the CaringBridge site spoke of Mikayla’s kindness, leadership and innate ability to inspire and impact the lives of others.
To help students and staff cope with the loss, the Shakopee Public Schools will deploy a Crisis Team of trained professionals a Crisis Team made up of dedicated professionals at the High School and various district sites throughout the week to support the school community.
Shakopee police say the fatal crash took place on Dec. 26 shortly after 8 p.m. at the intersection of County Rd. 21 and Tintaocanku. The case is still active, and investigators are waiting for a reconstruction report from the State Patrol before additional details are released.
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Friends remember murdered woman whose family members found her body
About 50 people showed up at her memorial to honor her life and push for answers.
MINNEAPOLIS — Friends of Ra’Lasia Wright are pushing for answers weeks after she was shot and killed.
Wright’s family found her body earlier this month, after they tracked her location to a driveway across the street from Powderhorn Park.
Nearly 50 people gathered for a vigil near the spot where she was found dead.
“I’m going to keep pushing until justice is served,” Camilla Lieng said. “I can’t even sleep at night sometimes.”
Lieng said Ra’Lasia was her best friend and misses her spirit.
“Just loving and just full of life,” Lieng said.
She said they shared a bond not many understand.
“I’m trans, she’s trans. She always told me none of her friends knew what she went through, you know, we live the same life,” she said.
Lieng is upset with the Minneapolis Police Department because she said there hasn’t been any significant updates on her friend’s murder.
“I’m very frustrated with MPD,” Lieng said. “No leads at all, only thing was they were trying to get warrants to get into her phone.”
A frustration many of Ra’Lasia’s friends feel.
“This community is too big for somebody not to see something, something is getting hidden, and if somebody knows something they need to speak up. We will get to the bottom of this,” said one of Ra’Lasia’s friends. “We just want answers that’s it.”
Lieng said she doesn’t feel like her friend is a priority for the department and plans to protest outside one of the MPD precints in the new year.
“I will never have a friend like her, every again to hold my hand to tell me that it’s going to be ok,” she said. “Without her there’s no me you know she paved the way for me and my sister is gone I can’t even fathom that my sister is gone.”
Though they weren’t sisters by blood, they were each other’s chosen family.
KARE 11 reached out to MPD for comment and has not heard back as of Sunday night.
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Minnesota community remembers women killed in north Minneapolis crash
A community balloon release and vigil honored the lives of Esther Fulks and Rose Reece.
MINNEAPOLIS — Family, friends and neighbors gathered in north Minneapolis this weekend to honor the lives of Esther Fulks, 53, and Rose Reece, 57, after the women were killed in a crash at the intersection of Emerson and 26th Avenue North on Monday, Dec. 16.
Authorities said Teniki Steward, 38, ran a red light and crashed into the vehicle Fulks and Reece were in, which subsequently veered off the road and crashed into a bus shelter, injuring a 17-year-old boy. Steward is charged with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and two counts of criminal vehicular operation.
A two-day memorial this weekend honoring Fulks and Reece included a community balloon release on Saturday and vigil on Sunday. “All the people that came out, it touched me. It touched me. It let me know that my mom changed a lot of peoples’ lives,” Reece’s son Drakarr Lobley said.
Fulks and Reece were best friends and had worked together at the Cultural Wellness Center for years, their families said. “They were always together, they stuck together,” Lobley added. He said Fulks and Reece were on their way to visit a friend who was recently diagnosed with cancer the morning of the crash.
Fulks’ son Sironta Solmon remembers his mother Fulks as a “God-fearing, loving, caring woman.” The mother of four, he said, was devoted to her community and always wanted to help others.
“This situation is sad,” Solman said. “It just teaches you to love people and just hold them close because you never know.”
Lobley remembers his mother in a similar way. “My mom was a community navigator,” he said. “She knew everything about every resource people could use and helped build people up from the ground up.”
Lobley said he is hoping to honor his mother’s legacy by creating a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people who are struggling to rebuild their lives, no matter their backgrounds or life experiences. Specifically, he said he would like to help people reenter society after incarceration or struggling with drug addiction. He added he is searching for community members, especially those familiar with grant-writing, who are willing to help him with his new mission. “Just trying to keep her name alive,” he said.
STAR Minneapolis, which according to a press release is, “a Trans/Non-Binary/Queer/Two-Spirit, working-class, multi-National AKA BIPOC, (Black Indigenous People of Color) organization,” also helped organize the balloon release and vigil.
“This happening to Rose and Esther, it’s hard. It’s a hard time for everybody,” STAR Minneapolis director Sam Morningstar said. Morningstar also resides in north Minneapolis and said this is a time for the community to pull together. “When we have pillars of our community like Esther and Rose, and some of our other people, they don’t ever leave us.”
The funeral service for Reece will take place on Friday, Jan. 3 at 2 p.m. at ICCM Life Center in Minneapolis. Donations can be made to both families to help with funeral arrangements and other expenses. You may support Reece’s family by clicking here and Fulks’ family by clicking here.
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Travel ramps up at MSP as Christmas and New Years approach
Overall, the MAC says it expects a six percent increase in travelers compared to last year.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Holiday travel is ramping up with the holidays next week, as thousands hit the skies out of MSP to other parts of the world.
The Metropolitan Airport Commission (MAC) says they expect tens of thousands of travelers to pass through security checkpoints each day, with the busiest day before Christmas falling on Friday.
The day after Christmas, Dec. 26, is expected to be the busiest day overall, with nearly 50,000 travelers going through security checkpoints.
Overall, the MAC says it expects a six percent increase in travelers compared to last year.
“It seems like a lot of people are traveling, but not me at this time,” Jose Acuña said. “I’m here to pick up some of my family members from Costa Rica.”
Count Acuña as one of the lucky ones, not having to brave holiday travel this time around.
“A couple of them have never seen the snow!” he said.
Their flight seemed to make it on time, unlike hundreds of others. According to the MSP website, over 250 flights were delayed or cancelled today. Close to 600 were on time.
“Just go with the flow. Sometimes we are too rigid making plans,” Acuña said. “But things don’t happen that way, and we just have to, you know, enjoy it.”
That advice seems apt this time of year – and especially for two travelers we spoke to Saturday night.
“I figured if my daughter vouched for her, and I like her son, because I’ve met her son,” Linda McRae said.
“God bless her for that!” Chris Carlin said.
McRae and Carlin met for the first time in person Saturday for their flight to Tennessee – their kids live together.
Their advice to making it through this crazy holiday travel season? Just keep in mind that it’s never that serious.
“Listen, I was more stressed at home getting my house ready for somebody to come in and take care of my cat!” Carlin said. “This is the easy part right here!”