Star Tribune
Man charged with manslaughter in shooting death nearly 16 months ago in Brooklyn Park
A 22-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter in connection with a shooting of a resident in his Brooklyn Park home nearly 16 months ago.
Marlon J. White, of Brooklyn Park, was charged Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court with two counts of second-degree manslaughter in connection with the death of Khalid K. Blunt, 20, on Sept. 28, 2022, at a house in the 7800 block of N. Tessman Drive.
White was charged by summons and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 15. Court records do not list an attorney for him.
Police submitted its case for charging considerations to prosecutors two days after Blunt was shot. The County Attorney’s Office has been asked to explain why 1 ¼ years passed before charges were filed.
According to the charges and police:
A caller to 911 said a friend of his had been shot. Police arrived to find Blunt down in the entry, where someone was doing chest compressions on him. Blunt died soon afterward at North Memorial Health Hospital from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Officers questioned White at the scene about the gun’s location. At first, he denied knowing where the gun was but then said he put the weapon in his car parked nearby. An officer found the handgun under the driver’s seat.
White told police he was standing next to Blunt in the living room, heard what he believed to be a gunshot and saw Blunt collapse near the front door. White said he grabbed the gun off the couch, along with his 2-year-old son and put the gun in his car, then went back inside to help Blunt.
A witness told police he had gone to Blunt’s house that evening, and White and his son were there. They were sitting on the couch smoking marijuana and watching a movie when he heard a gunshot and saw Blunt get up and take off toward the steps, where he did CPR on Blunt. He said he never saw a gun that evening and didn’t know where it came from.
Upon further questioning, White said he had his gun with him but placed it under the couch and was on a Facetime call with another friend when he heard a gunshot, grabbed his son and noticed his gun was on the couch. He said he didn’t know how it ended up out from under the couch.
The next day a witness told police he was on a Facetime call with White and heard what sounded like a gunshot. He said White started to cry and began to yell “What happened?” and heard a child screaming, and heard White say “Sincere just shot him.” The phone then disconnected before the witness arrived to Blunt’s house five minutes later. Charges do not hint at the identity of “Sincere.”
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled Blunt’s death was caused by a single gunshot wound to the chest, and there was no evidence that it was self-inflicted.
Transforming the heart of both downtowns, which have much larger buildings than old warehouses, is going to take a lot more money, creativity and time. Josh Talberg, managing director at downtown Minneapolis brokerage JLL, said with no major apartment buildings on the drawing board in either downtown, the fleet of empty office buildings present a golden opportunity to create more housing and lead both cities in a new direction.
“You can can certainly see the fundamentals improving, and you can feel that vibrancy, and that’s ultimately the foundation that’s needed to get investors to reinvest in the city,” he said. “But it’s not as if these 18-wheelers can turn on a dime.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
