Star Tribune
Minneapolis man charged in double Dinkytown murder from December arrested in Chicago, bail set at $2 million
A 25-year-old Minneapolis man arrested recently in Chicago recently now stands charged with murder in connection with a double homicide last December in a Dinkytown tobacco shop.
Maleek Jabril Conley is charged with four counts of second-degree murder in Hennepin County District Court and stands accused of killing two and wounding a store clerk with a bullet intended for another victim inside Royal Cigar & Tobacco on Dec. 3. Conley was extradited to Minneapolis on Monday and remains in custody while the whereabouts of a co-defendant remain unknown. He made a first court appearance Tuesday where his bail was set at $2 million.
Gunfire erupted inside the shop after a brawl broke out between two groups of customers in the tiny family-owned smoke shop at 14th Avenue and 4th Street SE near the University of Minnesota campus around 2:15 a.m., before a posted closing time of 3 a.m. Killed in the chaotic scene that was captured on bystander video were Bryson Lamarr Haskell and Jamartre Michael Sanders, both 24 and from Minneapolis.
Video depicted a melee involving at least seven men, with two exchanging punches on the floor as products spilled from shelves.
According to the charges:
Haskell and Sanders were shot in the head and neck multiple times while the store clerk was struck by a stray bullet in the buttocks. The clerk told police that the victims were with one of the groups that got into a verbal altercation and fistfight that he and other employees attempted to stop. But a gunman, identified as Conley, entered the store and unleashed a barrage of semiautomatic gunfire.
Video corroborated the clerk’s account and revealed that Conley fired directly at Haskell and Sanders while standing three feet away. Conley also fired at least twice at a fourth victim from close range but missed and the clerk was wounded instead. The charges reflect two attempted murders and two intentional murders.
A store employee pressed a panic button which locked everyone inside. When Conley realized this, he shot out the glass door and crawled out the metal frame, followed by four accomplices.
All five men ran to a stolen Kia and fled the scene. The getaway driver was identified, but has not been formally charged. The Star Tribune does not typically name an individual until they have been formally charged.
The stolen Kia was located outside a suspect’s apartment building on Elliott Avenue. Surveillance video from the apartment showed all five men retreat there 15 minutes after the shooting.
Investigators say that Conley was the only one to display a firearm during the violent encounter. He fired at least 24 shots, according to the number of recovered 9mm discharge casings. He also left fingerprints on a glass counter in the store.
The other three men are only identified by initials in court records; one is related to Conley. All are known members of a south Minneapolis street gang.
Investigators say that Haskell and Sanders were associated with a north Minneapolis street gang and they believe the murders stem from a rivalry.
Star Tribune staff writer Liz Sawyer contributed to this report.
The man shot by law enforcement during a 15-hour siege in rural western Minnesota had been paranoid and acting erratically, leading his family to call authorities about his behavior, court documents say.
Kasey Paul Willander, 27, was behaving strangely Saturday afternoon while possessing a knife and a bow, his mother told a Yellow Medicine County sheriff’s deputy around 3:15 p.m., according to the search warrant from the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office.
Willander left before deputies arrived at the home in Clarkfield, 15 miles south of Montevideo, the search warrant said.
Two hours later, law enforcement said it received a call that Willander had a rifle and was at another relative’s home nearby.
These relatives were forced to barricade themselves in their home as police used an aerial drone to search for Willander, who was hiding in a grove of trees on the property, the warrant said.
As deputies evacuated his relatives from the home, Willander pointed a long gun at the officers, the warrant said.
A standoff ensued. Willander boarded up windows in the home and destroyed cameras on the property, the warrant said.
Police SWAT teams surrounded the home, the Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday. Willander again shot at the officers.
DULUTH — Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has given an unexpected and no-strings-attached $9 million to a Duluth nonprofit that helps entrepreneurs grow.
The EFund was chosen through Yield Giving’s “quiet research” process, in which it chooses and evaluates organizations privately for unsolicited gifts. EFund is only the second known northeast Minnesota organization to benefit from the billions Scott, an author and the ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, has given since 2020 as part of her pledge to donate a majority of her wealth over her lifetime. The Duluth Area YMCA in 2020 received an undisclosed amount. About $140 million in donations have now been designated to Minnesota organizations.
“It still feels surreal,” EFund CEO Shawn Wellnitz said. “And with no restrictions, it’s just transformational,” especially as pandemic aid dries up for businesses and creditors are more cautious about lending money.
Unrestricted gifts are considered rare in the philanthropy world.
The EFund nonprofit, formed in 1989, manages a portfolio of about $60 million, lending money and offering services to entrepreneurs in northeast and east-central Minnesota, and northern Wisconsin. The Seattle billionaire’s gift is its largest ever. The recognition and confidence that comes with a Scott donation can help the organization leverage that money “multiple times over,” Wellnitz said.
The nonprofit works with about 1,500 entrepreneurs each year. Wellnitz said the money will allow the organization to take bigger risks with companies they are already helping who are poised to bring more jobs to the region, along with preparing succession plans for the looming mass retirements of area aging business owners.
It has lent start-up money several times to Advanced Machine Guarding Solutions, a safety equipment supplier in Hibbing. The EFund helped the owner, who came from the robotics industry, line up other funding sources. The company now has more than a dozen employees and “back orders through the roof,” Wellnitz said.
Yield Giving didn’t share with the EFund why it chose the nonprofit. Its website says it looks at organizations in underserved communities that have high potential for impact, and with stable finances, a long track record and evidence of outcomes.
Star Tribune
A second person has been charged in connection with an attack on a north Minneapolis homeless shelter that forced dozens of women and children to relocate last week.
A second person has been charged in connection with an attack on a north Minneapolis homeless shelter that forced dozens of women and children to relocate last week.
Read the original article
