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Teen boy dies after being shot outside his home
The 17-year-old died at his home, despite the attempts of officers to revive him.
MINNEAPOLIS — A 17-year-old boy is dead after a shooting Monday night outside his home in Minneapolis, and investigators are asking for the public’s help finding the person or people responsible.
Minneapolis police said officers responded to reports of a shooting around 7:15 p.m. on the block of 1100 25 St. E. Officers arrived to find the teen victim inside a home suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Police said they attempted lifesaving care, including CPR and a chest seal, but the boy died in the home. In a press release, authorities said they believe the teen was outside with others when shots were fired. He ran into the home and collapsed, police added.
Homicide investigators are working to determine what happened. There have been no arrests as of Tuesday evening.
“Another act of gun violence and another juvenile shot dead,” Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in the release. “This senseless act of gun violence has destroyed another young life and left another family with a life of grief. We are asking anyone in the community with information to help our investigators by providing any information they have about this incident.”
Protect Minnesota is the state’s only independent statewide gun violence prevention organization, according to its website. The group’s executive director Maggiy Emery said Monday’s shooting is a tragedy that could have been prevented.
“Gun violence is the number one cause of death for children and teens in our country. That’s not true for any other country in the world,” Emery said. “We could avoid this if we took action, and we haven’t taken action. It’s tragic by itself, and the most tragic part of it is that this is a totally preventable death.”
Emery said there are immediate actions people can take that could make a big impact, including safely storing guns when they’re not in use, reporting stolen firearms to law enforcement and investing in communities facing crises.
“We know that gun violence often stems from a key moment of crisis that is interruptible all the way until the trigger is pulled, so investments in programming that helps stop the actual action of pulling the trigger and firing it at someone is really crucial as well.”
According to new data from Protect Minnesota and the Minnesota Department of Health, 530 Minnesotans died from gun violence in 2023. Suicide deaths accounted for roughly 70% of those deaths, while homicides made up about 27%.
“If you see this tragic shooting of a 17-year-old in Minneapolis and you’re horrified by that, if you’re horrified by the fact that gun violence is the number one cause of death for children and teens across the country, get involved with the movement to end gun violence,” Emery said. “This is not something we have to live with. We don’t have to live this way, and if we can do anything to save even one life, our actions are worth it.”
Anyone with information about the fatal shooting or those responsible is asked to call Minneapolis police at 612-673-3000. If you would prefer to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at this website.
Deb Connelly and her crew give all 323 dozen Christmas cookies away.
MEDINA, Minn. — The house in Hamel has a grand Christmas tree in the living room. But the home’s most important holiday tradition is in the kitchen.
“Hey, Michaela, turn on the oven,” Deb Connelly shouts across the room to her niece.
The oven, the microwave and assorted small appliances are working in concert.
A crew of five women scurries about.
“For me, food is love,” Deb says, surveying the room. “So, here’s cookies.”
Deb isn’t interested in a Tupperware or two filled with Christmas cookies. That’s not the way she rolls.
“Thirty-six hundred last year,” Deb says.
Put another way, that’s 300 dozen Christmas cookies, made mostly over three days, in Deb’s kitchen.
By the time this weekend is done, the women will have broken last year’s record cookie crop by another 23 dozen, for a total of nearly 3,900 cookies.
Their feat has been years in the making.
“We don’t have memories of not doing it,” Michaela Bremmer, Deb’s niece says.
Michaela points to a picture in an old photo album. She’s in her mother’s arms, at her aunt’s house, baking cookies.
“I’m what?” Michaela asks. “Maybe 8 months old?”
An album page away, Michaela’s younger sister, Shelby Durst, is photographed as a preschooler who’s possibly eaten more frosting than she’s spread.
“That’s my favorite,” Michaela says giddily, “Look at her blue frosting mouth.”
Looking on, Shelby smiles warmly. “This is what we’ve done my entire life,” she says.
Another photo shows Shelby and Michaela as teens, back at Deb’s house baking Christmas cookies.
“Look at our chokers, so 90s” Michaela observes.
While some things haven’t changed, cookie baking has gone beyond what the former teens could have ever imagined.
These days, Michaela, Shelby and their mother, Lori Quady, arrive at Deb’s house on Friday. They sleep — very little — there, spending every waking hour baking Christmas cookies.
Think of it as their version of deer camp, but instead of slaying deer, it’s 27 pounds of butter.
“We kind of know everyone’s strengths,” Deb says, as she assigns cookie baking tasks.
Standing nearby, Michaela laughs and adds, “I didn’t have any strength last night, so they sent me to Target.
The fifth member of this year’s cookie crew is Lisa-Marie Hanson, Deb’s friend and former coworker.
“Some of those cookies were on the platter at work,” Lisa-Marie says, “and I thought, how can I help?” She’s been part of Christmas cookie weekend ever since.
Finished cookies will find their way to the homes of dozens of the crews’ family members, friends and coworkers.
“I ship cookies to probably four or five different states,” Deb says.
Don’t picture the women sipping wine as they bake.
Diet Coke is their beverage of choice.
“This keeps the energy up,” Deb says, taking a sip.
All of them agree this annual weekend is about more than cookies.
“Anytime I can be with my girls and my sister, it’s the best,” says Lori, Deb’s younger sister.
Conversations flow freely from one topic to the next as the women mix and bake and decorate more than a dozen varieties of cookies.
“Somebody always uses a baking term that could be taken the wrong way,” laughs Lisa-Marie, as the crew rolls dough into balls.
A Saturday Night Live reference is inevitable.
“Schweddy,” Lisa-Marie says to giggles from the crew.
In a few days, the women will put the final touches on Christmas in their own kitchens, having already filled their hearts in Deb’s.
Deb shared some of her favorite cookie recipes with KARE, so check them out at the links below.
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Anyone who may know what happened to Calvin Lavell Garron is urged to contact authorities.
FRIDLEY, Minn. — Authorities are continuing to investigate what happened to a man who was struck and killed by a vehicle two years ago.
It happened on Dec. 16, 2022, according to the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office. That’s when 51-year-old Calvin Lavell Garron of Chicago was found dead.
Officials say he was found in the area of R.L. Stevenson Elementary School in Fridley on East River Road. Garron was found “lying in the roadway with grave injuries,” the sheriff’s office said.
There were no witnesses, authorities said, and whoever struck Garron left the scene.
According to his obituary, Garron worked at Target and Old Country Buffet and left behind 11 children and seven grandchildren.
The sheriff’s office is continuing to ask the public for help solving this case. You do not have to say who you are, officials said, just what you know. You can email the Anoka County cold case homicide unit at ACSOColdCases@anokacountymn.gov.
The school board at St. Francis Area Schools voted 4-3 to use Book Looks, which was started by a former member of Moms for Liberty.
ST FRANCIS, Minn. — Under a new policy, a slew of books could be banned from St. Francis Area Schools’ (SFAS) media centers if they are formally challenged.
That includes “Night” by Elie Wiesel — a memoir of Wiesel’s experience in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
“Is this board willing to go… we are not going to have a book, a true story, about the Holocaust in our library?” asked school board member Nathan Burr, during the SFAS school board meeting on Nov. 25.
During the meeting, the school board voted 4-3 in favor of using “BookLooks.org” and its ratings to determine which books get banned from the district’s libraries.
Board members Pamela Johnson, Amy Kelly, Rob Schoenrock, and Annette West voted in favor of using Book Looks as its sole resource. Burr, Board Vice-Chair Jill Anderson and Board Chair Mike Starr voted against it.
“Why use just the one?” asked Starr. “We discussed why Book Looks should not be the only one because Book Looks is a very conservative company.”
Book Looks was started by Emily Maikisch, a former member of Moms for Liberty. She told USA Today in Oct. 2023 that she left the group in March 2022 to launch Book Looks.
On Book Looks’ website, it says it is not affiliated with Moms for Liberty or with any other groups. “However, we do communicate with other individuals and groups with whom there is an intersection of mission and values. We are focused on gathering and making information available to anyone who can make use of it, including individual parents or the groups representing their interests. We commonly allow these entities to use our work and accept suggestions for books to look at.”
During the Nov. 25 meeting, Kelly said, “We’re red here. We’re not always going to be on the same page but I know we’re conservative. They don’t want this stuff in the libraries.”
Kelly specifically talked about the book “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” which received a 3 rating from Book Looks. Anything rated 3-5, if formally challenged, would get removed; if it’s not already in the library, it would not get added.
According to SFAS Superintendent Karsten Anderson, two books have already been removed based on Book Looks: “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and “Out of Darkness.”
“We typically don’t use the word book ban. Instead, we’ve been using the phrase ‘book removal’ because if there’s a book in the library, then you know someone can challenge it and then we can remove the book. There’s not a total ban on the book. For example, students can still bring that book into school. They can be used during classes as part of curriculum,” Anderson said.
Anderson said Book Looks only has a few hundred books reviewed so the school’s committee will still review books not on that list to determine whether a book stays or goes.
Starr said there are nine resources out there to grade books and that the school’s attorney and Supt. Anderson did not recommend only using Book Looks.
“We’re definitely hearing multiple perspectives before the decision and after the decision,” Supt. Anderson said.
A new state law went into effect earlier this year that prohibits banning books in public and school libraries, “based solely on its viewpoint or the messages, ideas or opinions it conveys.”
“What could happen? Could we be sued or not? I’ve been hearing on the outside, there’s some people out there looking to maybe sue the school district,” said Starr, who is finishing up his term on the school board.
Supt. Anderson said he has reached out to the Minnesota Department of Education for guidance on this policy and is waiting to hear back.
Three new school board members start in January so the policy could be brought up again.
KARE 11 reached out to those who voted in favor of the policy. Schoenrock referred us to Starr and Supt. Anderson. Kelly, Johnson and West did not return our email. Book Looks also did not respond to our request for an interview.
