Star Tribune
Woman found dead in North Loop home complained of many assaults by boyfriend
The woman found dead in her North Loop apartment under what police are calling suspicious circumstances had made multiple calls to Minneapolis police over the past 18 months in which she said she was the victim of assaults by her boyfriend.
Police records obtained this week by the Star Tribune show that Allison J. Lussier complained to officers at least six times in the past 18 months that she was the target of sometimes especially violent domestic assaults before she was discovered Feb. 22 in her unit in the Cameron Historic Flats in the 700 block of N. 4th Street.
When asked Tuesday about progress in the case toward making an arrest, police spokesman Aaron Rose said, “This is an open and active suspicious death investigation. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner has not yet announced the determination of cause and manner of death. A toxicology report is currently pending.”
In each suspected assault, police interviewed Lussier and filed a report, which in some cases included photos of her injuries. Officers at least three times urged her to reach out to Cornerstone, a nonprofit that provides support and safety to domestic abuse victims.
In three of the assaults reported by Lussier, police records identify by name her on-again off-again boyfriend as the suspected perpetrator, department records show. One of the reports, this one taken by Metro Transit police, alleges the assault was carried out by an ex-boyfriend at a bus stop at N. Washington Avenue and West Broadway. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.
The first of the reported attacks occurred in July 2022 at her apartment, where the man became angry about a phone call that Lussier received, then grabbed her by the hair, tied her up in the bathroom and kicked her in the chest.
In November 2022, she reported to police that the man made her strip before he beat her, threatened to disfigure her face with a razor blade, and then kill her and throw her body in the river.
She petitioned a court days later for an order for protection from the man, explaining, “I have a black eye [and] multiple bruises through my body up and down from head to toe. … He’s always been abusive.”
However, Lussier went back to the court about a week later and had the petition dismissed. The court record does not reveal why she changed her mind.
Domestic violence in Minnesota involving intimate partners claimed at least 36 lives in 2023, according to Violence Free Minnesota, which has been tracking this data since 1989.
Artika C. Roller, Cornerstone’s executive director, said Tuesday that “as first responders, police officers play a critical role in preventing the cycle of abuse and saving lives. Training officers to respond effectively, assess risk, and connect victims with support services is essential for victim’s safety.”
Roller added that another crucial factor in combating deaths from domestic violence is police the need for police to build and maintain strong partnerships with other segments of the community.
“We face significant challenges when it comes to addressing abusive relationships from turning fatal,” she said. “Addressing abusive relationships requires a multifaceted approach involving law enforcement, community support and victim services.”
On Saturday, dozens of people carried out a “Justice March” down Washington Avenue from Lussier’s apartment building to the Police Department’s downtown precinct headquarters and chanted “We want answers, we want justice” about why Lussier is dead after so many domestic assault reports.
The participants included Native Americans who walked to the beat of a drum and dressed in traditional garb. Her son, Joshua Hanks, said in an online fundraising campaign that his mother was raised in south Minneapolis, “but we as a family want her to be laid to rest on our reservation in Red Lake.”
Amber Schindeldecker, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Public Safety, said her agency’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office “is providing support and resources for the family of Allison Lussier.”
Anyone who is in an abusive relationship or knows someone who is can contact the Day One Hotline by calling 866-223-1111 or texting 612-399-9995.
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.
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