Star Tribune
Gunfire at homeless encampment in south Minneapolis claims a third life
A shooting in the midst of a relentless string of violence at homeless encampments in Minneapolis has claimed a third life, officials said Monday.
Samantha Jo Moss, 35, of St. Louis Park, was shot multiple times on Oct. 27 at the encampment in the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue near the railroad tracks and Hiawatha avenues, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
At the scene, officers found two men who were fatally shot. They were later identified by the examiner’s office as Christopher Martell Washington, 38, of Fridley, and Louis Mitchell Lemons, Jr., 32, of Brooklyn Center.
Police say the suspect is Earl Bennett, of Minneapolis, who was shot and wounded during a confrontation with police in St. Paul one day after the triple killing. Charges in that shooting are pending.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office has charged Bennett with illegal weapon possession and second-degree assault stemming from his clash with St. Paul police. The charges say Bennett “told police to shoot him” and that 9-millimeter handgun he was holding was not loaded.
Bennett also is charged in Hennepin County District Court with attempted first-degree murder in connection with a shooting at a sober house in the 3500 block of Columbus Avenue S. in Minneapolis. That shooting occurred about 2½ hours before he was shot by St. Paul police. He’s due to appear in court Wednesday.
The Snelling Avenue shooting was the second at a South Side homeless encampment that weekend. One man died and two were critically wounded on Oct. 26 at an encampment near E. 21st Street and 15th Avenue S. The man who died was identified as Deven Leonard Caston, 31, no known address. No arrests have been announced in that case.
The city has been coping with several shootings in and around homeless encampments this year. Mayor Jacob Frey attended a news conference on the day of the Snelling Avenue shooting and said the city needs to continue to provide options for people seeking shelter. But, he said, encampments are not an alternative answer.
The new center aims to connect the East Lake Street community with services related to housing, community safety and more.
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Mayor Jacob Frey says he plans to run for re-election next year.
“I’m preparing to do so (run) but not making any formal announcements yet,” Frey said in a text Monday.
Frey was elected mayor in 2017, defeating incumbent Betsy Hodges, after representing Ward 3 on the Minneapolis City Council from 2014 to 2018. His first term was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic, George Floyd’s murder by police and subsequent unrest that destroyed city blocks and rippled across the globe.
While a majority of City Council members called for defunding the police, Frey resisted and instead promised reform, angering a crowd of protesters that marched to the door of his townhouse days after Floyd’s murder. Minneapolis residents sided with him when they rejected a 2021 ballot measure to replace the police department with a new Department of Public Safety, and re-elected Frey.
Police reforms continue to dominate his tenure, as state and federal officials are forcing the police department into court-sanctioned monitoring due to discriminatory policing. Meanwhile, the police department continues to hemorrhage officers: The department has about 578 sworn officers, down from nearly 900 in 2019, a 36% decrease.
The Rev. DeWayne Davis, lead minister of Plymouth Congregational Church, announced plans to run for mayor on Oct. 17. Before his ordination in 2012, he worked as a congressional staffer. He co-chaired Frey’s Minneapolis Community Safety Work Group that recommended public safety reforms.
Minneapolis Council Member Emily Koski said Monday she’s “strongly considering” running for mayor. She campaigned with Frey in 2021, when she was elected to represent Ward 11 in south Minneapolis, and was considered one of his top allies on the council. But she broke ranks with Frey on his $15 million plan to replenish MPD ranks; sided with the council’s progressive majority in overriding Frey’s veto of changes to rideshare regulations; and voted against Frey’s proposal to build a new Third Precinct police station downtown.
If Koski runs, she’d be following in her father’s footsteps: Albert Hofstede was a council member before being elected Minneapolis mayor in the 1970s.
A $5 billion facility to manufacture jet fuel for airplanes is coming to Moorhead.
DG Fuels, a Washington D.C.-based energy company, announced they’re putting a sustainable aviation fuel [SAF] plant in Clay County, bringing 650 jobs to northwestern Minnesota’s border with North Dakota.
The facility, which expects to start production in 2030, will convert agriculture and timber waste into jet fuel, according to a statement from Greater MSP, a Twin Cities-based regional development organization.
“We not only want to lead the world in de-carbonizing air travel” at Minnesota-St. Paul International Airport, said Peter Frosch, CEO of Greater MSP, in an interview, on Monday. “But we want to produce that SAF in Minnesota.”
The selection of Moorhead, Frosch continued, was evidence of the concerted push from the Minnesota SAF Hub — which includes, government, universities, nonprofits and companies, including Bank of America and Delta Air Lines — to ramp up production of SAF in Minnesota.
The project is also a win for Moorhead.
“With the largest shovel-ready industrial site in the state of Minnesota, we are excited and prepared to compete on the national stage for this economic development opportunity,” said Moorhead Mayor Shelly Carlson, in a statement.
While SAF can be produced from biomass streams, including corn stover, industry experts look to perennial crops, as well, such as camelina and other oilseeds as possible sources for feedstocks.
