(Center of the American Experiment) — Thursday morning, I drove over to South Minneapolis to document anew some of the carnage to be found in the once thriving city. We’ve edited what I saw down to a 58-second video posted on YouTube:
As it happened, we included video of an abandoned White Castle restaurant located at the intersection of W. Lake St. and Blaisdell Avenue. This branch of the chain closed last October, leaving only one Minneapolis outlet for the venerable hamburger chain. The building is still standing.
Reportedly, the Lake Street location had been in operation since 1977. Its closure was blamed, in part, on “the wake of civil unrest following George Floyd’s death.”
Thursday afternoon, police visited the scene, as reported by Fox 9:
“[O]fficers were called out to the area of West Lake Street and Blaisdell Avenue. Initially, the 911 call reported a possible drug overdose. But, at the scene, officers found a man in his 30s who had been shot.
He was also rushed to the hospital where he later died.
Officers say the victim may have come from a nearby homeless encampment along Blaisdell Avenue.”
The encampment in question appears at the very beginning of the video posted above.
On Friday, the county coroner identified the deceased as Abdirizak Mahamed Abader, age 27, with a last known address of Mankato. The cause of death is listed as a gunshot wound to the chest. Abader’s homicide was one of three recorded in the city in less than 24 hours.
According to official statistics, there have been 21 homicides in Minneapolis so far in 2024.
This most recent incident on Blaisdell may accelerate city plans to close down this encampment, according to KSTP.
Bill Glahn
Bill Glahn is an Adjunct Policy Fellow with Center of the American Experiment.
