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Man pleads guilty in fatal Plymouth VRBO shooting
Raheim Tyrese Cooper pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder Thursday, stemming from the deadly shooting at a VRBO property on March 5, 2023.
MINNEAPOLIS — Editor’s note: The video above first aired on KARE 11 in March 2023.
A 20-year-old man pleaded guilty to shooting and killing a man last year at a short-term rental property in Plymouth.
Raheim Tyrese Cooper pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder Thursday, stemming from the deadly shooting at a VRBO property on March 5, 2023.
According to court documents, officers went to a home on Oakview Lane just before 11 p.m. on reports of a shooting at a large party. Prosecutors said when they arrived, they found the victim, only identified by the initials A.B., lying in the kitchen with multiple gunshot wounds.
Despite life-saving efforts, A.B. died at the scene.
As officers rendered aid to A.B. inside the residence, prosecutors said that officers stationed outside the home noticed a black backpack in front of a squad car, and asked partygoers who it belonged to. Prosecutors said when no one would claim it, officers looked inside and discovered an iPhone, several bags of marijuana and a loaded Glock 21C .45 caliber handgun that had been modified with a switch, making it fully automatic.
Investigators said they reviewed officer body camera footage from the scene, which showed a young woman wearing the backpack when officers arrived. Court documents said the girl told them she arrived to the party around 8 p.m. and was outside trying to get an Uber a few hours later when she heard what sounded like gunshots. She then told investigators that Cooper approached her outside shortly after the shooting, asking her to hold his backpack. The complaint said she took the bag, denying she knew what was inside and “did not think anything of it at the time.”
Other witnesses who claimed to have arrived at the party with A.B. told police they heard Cooper and A.B. arguing, saying they were aware of an “ongoing dispute… over Snapchat” between the men before the shooting. That’s when, one witness said, they saw Cooper hold a gun up in the air, followed by gunshots, and A.B. dropping to the ground. The witnesses said they did not explicitly see Cooper shoot him, but they also did not notice anyone else brandishing a gun.
Raheim denied being involved in his first post-Miranda interview with authorities, saying “someone he knows” — but who he wouldn’t name — was responsible. He claimed he was handed the gun and subsequently put it in his backpack, giving it to the girl. He told investigators he did not believe they’d question or search her.
In a later interview, Cooper admitted to being at the party when he saw A.B., whom he had been fighting with for weeks leading up to the shooting. Court documents said he then admitted to punching A.B. in the face before another man at the party gave him a handgun, which “fired several rounds” after he claimed to have been pushed or bumped from behind.
Following an autopsy, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner determined A.B. died from multiple gunshot wounds.
A neighborhood resident told KARE 11 at the time that the situation became “hectic,” and it was the “first time anything like this has happened” at the VRBO.
“Someone lost their life, so that’s horrific to know what’s happening at that moment, and just scary to know that happened 100 yards from where I was sitting on a Saturday night and that happened just across the street,” he said.
The city of Plymouth later confirmed that the VRBO was licensed as a rental property, but the listing located by KARE 11 was taken down shortly after the incident.
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So far in 2024, the organization said at least 12 people in Minnesota have also become victims of intimate partner violence.
ST PAUL, Minn. — At least 40 people were killed in Minnesota last year as the result of intimate partner violence, marking the highest number of victims in over three decades of tracking domestic violence data.
According to Violence Free Minnesota’s annual Homicide Report for 2023, of those 40 known victims, 29 were killed by a current or former intimate partner, while 11 intervenors and bystanders were killed in intimate partner violence-related situations. So far in 2024, the organization said at least 12 people in Minnesota have also become victims of domestic violence.
“To every person who lost a family member or loved one in Minnesota in 2023: we believe you, and we want to achieve a safer, violence-free Minnesota together,” said Violence Free Minnesota Executive Director Guadalupe Lopez.
The coalition, made up of more than 90 member programs working to end domestic abuse across Minnesota, released the report Tuesday to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
For more information, visit Violence Free Minnesota’s website.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and needs help, call 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788 to be connected with someone from the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
The hotline includes more options for support and identifiers of abuse on its website.
For Minnesota residents, Cornerstone MN offers resources and safe housing for domestic abuse survivors and crime victims. Call 1-866-223-1111 or chat online with the crisis hotline.
The legislation prevents transferring a dead patient’s medical debt to a surviving spouse and reporting unpaid medical bills to creditors, among other things.
ST PAUL, Minn. — The Debt Fairness Act is officially the law of the land across Minnesota, going into effect on Oct. 1, 2024.
Passed in April as part of the larger Commerce Policy Bill, the act takes a number of steps to protect those struggling under the weight of medical debt. Among other things, the Debt Fairness Act:
- Prevents medical providers from denying care due to unpaid medical debt
- Bans the practice of transferring a dead patient’s medical debt to a surviving spouse
- Prohibits medical providers from reporting unpaid medical bills to credit bureaus
- Establishes strong new protections from unethical medical debt collection practices
- Requires medical providers to publish medical debt collection practices
- Creates a new process to help people dispute medical coding and billing errors
The bill received strong support at Capitol rallies from Minnesotans like Jen Schultz, a public relations professional and adjunct professor at Concordia University in St. Paul.
“I’m a four-time cancer survivor and a lot of times it feels like I’m in a constant cycle of medical debt,” Schultz told KARE. “I’ve had so many situations where I’ve had to choose between buying groceries or paying a full medical bill or putting gas in my car.”
Schultz said bills tend to pile up for cancer survivors like her due to the constant need to check and recheck to ensure the disease has not returned.
“Oncology appointments, scans, ultrasounds, biopsies, medication, treatment, and so on,” Schultz explained.
Credit agencies and hospital groups lobbied hard against the bill before its passage, cautioning lawmakers about the unintended consequences of changing the rules. Danny Ackert of the Minnesota Hospital Association said hospitals wrote off $537 million in uncollectible debt in 2022, and $280 million of that was from patients with insurance who couldn’t afford their copays and deductibles.
“The hospital association is concerned that provisions in Senate File 4065 pertain to medical debt in combination are not appropriately balanced,” Ackert told the panel at the time.
On Tuesday Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that his office will host a new Debt Fairness Legal Clinic on Saturday, October 5 at NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center. Experts will be on hand to provide support and advice to Minnesotans struggling under the weight of medical debt.
HOPE 4 Youth offers programs and support for young people experiencing homelessness.
COON RAPIDS, Minn. — On any given night, about 6,000 young people in Minnesota are experiencing homelessness. HOPE 4 Youth is raising awareness and funds to make sure that number goes down.
The Darkest Night 4K is raising funds to help that cause. Participants will take part in a luminary-lit walk or run with live music and activities at the Bunker Hills Golf Club in Coon Rapids on Oct. 4 from 5:30-8:30 p.m.
If you attend, you might see a familiar face as KARE 11 Sunrise anchor Jason Hackett will be emceeing the event.
Nikki Kalvin, the director of advancement with HOPE 4 Youth, visited KARE 11 News at Noon to share more about the event and the organization’s mission.
HOPE 4 Youth offers housing programs and support for people ages 16-24 who are dealing with homelessness. The proceeds from The Darkest Night 4K will go to their programs.
Tickets are $40 for adults, $20 for kids or students and free for children ages 3 and under. Click here for more information.
