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. 

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.

Boyd Huppert is always looking for great stories to share in the Land of 10,000 Stories! Send us your suggestions by filling out this form.

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.