Star Tribune
Man facing 34-year term for killing outside after-hours party near Loring Park
A Minneapolis man is looking at a sentence topping 34 years after admitting he fatally shot a Rochester man outside an after-hours party near Loring Park more than two years ago.
Mayan Deng Mayan, 27, agreed on Monday in Hennepin County District Court to plead guilty to second-degree intentional murder in connection with the shooting of Birahim B. Gildersleve, 28, outside the Fade Barber Lounge, on Sept. 18, 2022.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Mayan is expected to serve the first 22 years of his 34½-year term in prison and the balance on supervised release. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 28.
As part of the plea agreement between the defense and the prosecution, a first-degree murder count will be dismissed.
In late February 2023, a man was charged with being Mayan’s getaway driver. Jal D. Wal, 26, of Apple Valley, also has pleaded guilty. He’s also scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 28. Public court records do not show what terms may have been reached for Wal’s plea.
The criminal complaints against both men did not address a motive for the shooting. Police Sgt. Garrett Parten said in a statement that day that the killing followed “a verbal altercation.”
According to the complaints:
Police were dispatched about 5:20 a.m. to the intersection of Harmon Place and Maple Street, where they saw Gildersleve with gunshot wounds to his right leg and chest. Emergency responders took him to HCMC, where he was pronounced dead 40 minutes later.
Star Tribune
St. Paul’s Lowertown ‘rocked’ by senseless shooting, but know the neighborhood remains safe
“It’s alarming,” Khan said.
Friends and Lowertown residents, including the artist Ta-coumba T. Aiken, in hat, gathered at the Lost Fox, a coffee shop in the St. Paul neighborhood, Sunday afternoon, September 29, 2024 to remember Lowertown resident and artist Carrie Shobe Kwok, who was murdered last week. ] JEFF WHEELER • Jeff.Wheeler@startribune.com (Jeff Wheeler/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
As Khan and Mellem spoke, the hour grew past 9 p.m. in Mears Park, a sort of town square in Lowertown.
Just like the water in the park’s manmade stream, dogwalkers and other passersby flowed through. Classical music played from the bandshell’s speakers. A couple danced in the shadows of one corner. Across the street, bar patrons sat with drinks indoors and out on a patio.
Noecker, the city council member, said that any urban area is going to have people engaging in negative activity, “but if they are vastly outnumbered by people just doing neutral and positive activity… then it feels and is safe.”
She said the neighborhood demonstrated it would remain that way after such a shocking act of violence.
“People have been coming out to comfort one another and to talk with one another,” she said. “That’s ultimately one of the most important ingredients for safety and it’s not something that’s easy to create if it isn’t already there.”
DULUTH — When registration opened Tuesday night for next year’s Grandma’s Marathon, the destination race along Minnesota’s North Shore, there were 7,500 hopefuls queued up and ready to commit to the mileage.
It made for long wait times for some runners who were logged in for up to 2 hours, though some cruised through the process in under 20 minutes, according to race officials. It also made for a record-setting entry pace. The Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon is expected to sell out less than 24 hours after it opened. The William A. Irvin 5K could also sell out by the end of the day.
“We had over 11,000 signed up in the first five hours — more than we’ve ever had before,” according to Zach Schneider, the event’s marketing director, who added the servers were also running slow on opening night. “It was the perfect storm. People had to exercise a little patience.”
Grandma’s Marathon and the Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon are scheduled for June 21, 2025. The William Irvin 5K is June 20.
For those considering the challenge, an entry in the full marathon will be the easiest to secure, with more than 5,000 spots still available. By midmorning Wednesday, there were only about 350 entries left for the half-marathon and 400 for the 5K.
Schneider said a lot of runners took up the sport during the pandemic and, combined with decent weather the past few years, Grandma’s Marathon has consistently filled fast.
“We know our race depends so much on word-of-mouth,” he said. “When we get good weather, people go back and tell family and friends.”
Walz previously said he was in Hong Kong in May 1989 before the massacre, MPR News reported. He also said he was in Hong Kong the day the massacre happened on June 4 during a 2019 radio interview, CNN reported.
However, a photo taken on May 16, 1989 put him in the United States working at the National Guard Armory in Alliance, MPR reported. And a story published in a Nebraska newspaper on Aug. 11, 1989 quoted him as saying he would leave for China that Sunday, more than two months after the Tiananmen Square massacre.
“To watch what happened at the end of the day on June 4 was something that many of us will never forget, we pledge to never forget, and bearing witness and accurate telling of history is absolutely crucial for any nation to move forward,” Walz said during a 2009 congressional hearing to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the massacre.
Walz has also misstated the number of times he’s visited China. The campaign previously said he visited the country more than 30 times. However, MPR reported the campaign now says he was there closer to 15 times.
The discrepancy in Walz’s timeline comes as Republicans have been raising questions about whether Walz’s ties to the country, which has become one of the United States’ top adversaries, is influencing his decision making. The GOP-led House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into his time there and has asked both the FBI and now the Department of Homeland Security via a subpoena for any relevant information the agencies have on Walz.
Walz on shooting his son witnessed and viral “friend with school shooters” moment
