The Minneapolis Police Department reported Thursday that 1,800 fentanyl pills and $4,000 in cash were recovered during a traffic stop the day prior in the 3rd Precinct (top photo). MPD said the call was one of 220 responded to that day in the precinct. Two people were reportedly booked into custody on probable cause narcotics. MPD did not make names of the arrested parties available, so information about formal charges wasn’t immediately available.
A Woodbury police officer was struck by a suspect’s vehicle early Thursday morning after checking on a male slumped in the driver’s seat of the running vehicle at the Extended Stay at 10020 Hudson Road.
Police dashcam video captured the incident which shows the officer speaking to the driver when the truck suddenly starts backing up while turning the wheel. The vehicle strikes the officer, knocking her down into a snowbank. The vehicle then accelerates forward, leaving the officer down on the ground. The truck then appears to strike the squad while fleeing.
— City of Woodbury MN Public Safety (@WoodburyMNPS) March 30, 2023
Woodbury Public Safety released a statement with the video saying the driver appeared to be impaired and gave the officer a false name before taking off. The truck nearly ran over the officer who was injured but not hospitalized, they said.
Later Thursday morning, Woodbury police located the vehicle and attempted a traffic stop but the driver again fled in the vehicle through St. Paul and Minneapolis. Dispatch audio from that morning indicated that the vehicle was tracked or pursued through several areas including past the University of Minnesota campus and ended in Uptown where the suspect was finally captured.
Thomas Elton Shows, III, 43, was taken into custody and was charged Friday in Washington County District Court with felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon (non-firearm), and fleeing police in a motor vehicle, and a gross misdemeanor count of fourth-degree assault of a peace officer.
Shows was granted a public defender at his first court appearance and bail was set at $100,000.
Minnesota court records reveal that Shows has 24 prior convictions including seven felonies. Four of Shows’ felony convictions are drug related, two are for theft and one is for third-degree burglary. Shows also has several active cases or warrants including charges of first- and fifth-degree narcotics, felon in possession of a stun gun, and domestic assault.
Mayan Deng Mayan, 26, was arrested on a felony second-degree murder warrant last week and made his first court appearance on Thursday related to the shooting homicide of Birahim Bilugeo Gildersleve, 28, on Sept. 18, 2022, in the Loring Park neighborhood of Minneapolis.
Jal Domach Wal, who we previously posted, has been in custody since February and is also charged with aiding an offender in connection to the murder.https://t.co/oEReXNKgLL
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) March 31, 2023
Co-defendant Jal Domach Wal, 25, was taken into custody in February after fleeing from a hit-and-run of a pedestrian in downtown Minneapolis. Police at the time witnessed the hit-and-run, according to dispatch audio. Police aired during the course of the incident and search for the vehicle that Wal was the likely driver of the vehicle and that he was wanted in connection to a murder. Wal was eventually taken into custody after leading police on a pursuit down 394 and then back into downtown Minneapolis where he crashed.
Wal has been charged related to the murder case with a felony count of aiding an offender after the fact. There is no indication in court records that Wal has been charged in relation to the hit-and-run and fleeing police in February.
Charges in the murder case say police responded about 5:21 a.m. on Sept. 18 to a report of a shooting at Harmon Place and Maple Street. They found the victim on the ground with apparent gunshots to his femoral artery and chest. He later died at the hospital. Police later said in a statement that there had been an after-hours party at the location and the shooting stemmed from a verbal altercation that led gunfire. Police were eventually able to identify the parties involved and Wal’s vehicle from surveillance videos in the area, the charging document said.
Both suspects remain in custody in Hennepin County jail on $1 million and $500,000 bail, respectively.
Luis Jaime Ayala Garcia, 38, of north Minneapolis was charged on Thursday in Hennepin County District Court with felony receiving stolen property after Bloomington police say he arrived in a stolen vehicle at Walmart on American Boulevard the day prior.
Charges say Walmart loss prevention personnel called police on Wednesday for a white male in a yellow reflective jacket who was in the store concealing merchandise and acting strange. Surveillance images showed Ayala Garcia arrived at the store in a vehicle with a plate that had been previously reported stolen.
Police made contact with Ayala Garcia and located stolen merchandise in his pockets, along with two meth pipes and keys to another vehicle following his arrest.
Court records show that at the time of his arrest last week, Ayala Garcia was out on bail provided by the Minnesota Freedom Fund in a separate case charged in January on counts of auto theft, fleeing police, and illegal possession of a gun. Charges in that case say he fled from Brooklyn Park police in a stolen vehicle. Police found a tossed gun after he was apprehended.
At the time of his January arrest and charges, Ayala Garcia had three other pending cases comprising four felony charges including threats of violence, auto theft, and two for narcotics. He had repeatedly failed to show up for court hearings in the cases. Bail was set at $10,000 in the Brooklyn Park case charged in January.
Minnesota Freedom Fund provided bail and Ayala Garcia was released from custody on Jan. 20. Three weeks later, he failed to appear for a scheduled court hearing on the Brooklyn Park charges and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Ayala Garcia remained in custody as of Monday with a new bail amount set of $15,000 in the prior Brooklyn Park case. A zero bail amount was listed in court records for the new Bloomington felony case.
Joseph Davione Villa, 18, of Minneapolis and Cloe May Neime, 19, of Oakdale were charged on Thursday following a violent robbery aboard a Metro Transit LRT in Bloomington which was in transit between the Mall of America and the MSP airport last week.
Charges say the pair along with an unidentified third suspect engaged the female victim in conversation and asked if she wanted any drugs. The suspects then grabbed the victim and her belongings and beat her with their fists and dragged her to the floor of the train. The victim’s backpack was taken which contained her passport, wallet, credit card and cash.
Metro Transit surveillance was able to verify the victim’s story, and photos of the suspects were sent out which resulted in the capture of Villa and Neime on the light rail at the America Boulevard platform.
Both suspects have been charged with one felony count of first-degree aggravated robbery. They each made their first court appearance on Thursday and remained in custody on Monday on $100,000 bail each.
Jail records show this was the fourth Hennepin County arrest for Villa since Feb. 6. In one case he was charged with illegally carrying a firearm, theft, and trespassing. He was subsequently released with zero bail required. Three arrests, including the latest, followed his release on zero bail.
James Cooper Henderson, 23, of St. Paul was charged Thursday in Hennepin County District Court with attempted second-degree murder for a brutal shooting in north Minneapolis last year.
The shooting took place just after 9 p.m. on May 20 on the 800 block of Elwood Avenue North when a property owner arrived at a vacant property to mow the grass and found evidence of squatters inside the building.
Charges say the suspects pulled the victim back inside the building, beat and kicked him, and took his phone, keys and wallet. Henderson retrieved the victim’s gun from an unspecified location and shot the victim several times. The victim was able to escape and ran to the garage but fell, and Henderson shot him several more times. The suspects also made off with the victim’s vehicle, which was later located in St. Paul along with the victim’s cell phone and other property.
Following Henderson’s arrest last week, he admitted to police that he fired the gun until it ran out of bullets, and he thought he had killed the victim who apparently survived. The charging document states that Henderson confessed to his adoptive parents the day after the shooting that he killed someone on Elwood Avenue. The parents contacted police at that time with the information, but it’s unclear from court records why Henderson wasn’t previously charged or arrested in connection to the case. Hennepin County Jail records show Henderson was arrested and booked into custody as recently as Feb. 2, 2023, on another misdemeanor case but was released after posting a small bail amount.
Henderson made his first court appearance on the attempted murder charge on Friday afternoon and is being held on $600,000 bail. Co-defendants were named in the complaint as Kiara Grace Johnson and Diontae Harris. Their ages were not listed, and court records are unclear on whether they have been charged in relation to the case.
Henderson was also charged last week in a Ramsey County case involving a smash-and-grab theft at a North St. Paul Target on March 24. Charges in that case say Henderson and three others entered the Target store and smashed display cases with a sledgehammer and stole electronics valued at over $5,200 and caused property damage in the amount of $900.
St. Paul police found a man with an apparent gunshot wound to the head Thursday evening after the SUV he was driving crashed into a parked vehicle, KSTP reported.
The incident took place about 6:30 p.m. near the intersection of Ford Parkway and Snelling Avenue. Police said the man was taken to the hospital with a life-threatening injury and they were continuing to investigate what may have led up to the crash and how the shooting occurred. No further information has become available.
Jack Allen Rother, 41, of Brooklyn Park was charged in Anoka County District Court on Friday after leading Coon Rapids police on an overnight pursuit across the north metro and eventually crashing in Roseville.
Charges say the incident started just after 1 a.m., Friday when police responded to several reports that a vehicle was traveling the wrong way on Hwy. 10 near Round Lake Boulevard.
An officer caught up to the Ford Excursion near Egret Boulevard and activated the squad lights and sirens. The vehicle did not stop for the officer and accelerated away at approximately 86 to 90 mph. As the vehicle passed through Blaine on Hwy. 10, speeds reached 105 mph. The Excursion continued in the wrong lanes of traffic onto 35W traveling southbound in the northbound lanes.
Ramsey County law enforcement intervened and deployed stop sticks which disabled the vehicle on 35W near County Road D.
MNDOT traffic cameras captured the end of the chase when the Excursion can be seen leaving the roadway and the driver attempting to flee. He was captured nearby.
Following his arrest, officers observed that Rother’s eyes were bloodshot and watery and his speech was slurred. Rother ultimately declined to submit to a breath test.
Rother was charged Friday with felony fleeing police in a motor vehicle, gross misdemeanor third-degree DWI-refusal to submit to a breath test, and misdemeanor fourth-degree DWI. He made his first court appearance the same day and was granted conditional release with no bail required and was released from custody.
Rother has a pending case charged in March on misdemeanor counts of driving after revocation and driving without insurance. Court records show Rother has fourteen prior convictions or citations, all for driving-related offenses.
Rother is scheduled to make his next court appearance on the new charges on June 5.
A North Carolina woman was charged in Hennepin County District Court on Friday after authorities said she tried to bring over 34 pounds of marijuana through the MSP Airport on Thursday.
Ashley Christine Bellamy, 23, has been charged with second-degree narcotics sales of over 10 kilos within a 90-day period.
Charges say a drug sniffing K9 alerted on two bags being taken off the transfer tug and sent to the gate on Thursday. The bags were marked with Bellamy’s name.
Authorities learned that Bellamy had flown in mid-March from the Raleigh-Durham (RDU) airport to MSP and onto LAX with a roundtrip flight booked back to MSP; she was in Los Angeles for less than eight hours on that trip.
Authorities questioned Bellamy when she passed through MSP on Wednesday, March 29, again with a flight booked to LAX. Bellamy indicated she was a traveling nurse who was going to stay in Los Angeles for multiple days for work. Since detectives knew Bellamy’s flight was booked for only an eight hour stay in Los Angeles with a return to MSP, detectives believed she was lying about her reason for travel. Additionally, when Bellamy flew to Los Angeles, she took no bags with her. When she returned, her name appeared on the two suspect bags.
The bags were detained by authorities, and a search warrant was obtained. A detective approached Bellamy at the baggage carousel and asked why she had returned so early from her work trip. Bellamy stated she had a “child emergency.” The detective informed Bellamy of the positive canine sniff of the bags with her name on the tags; Bellamy did not provide officers consent to search the bags. The subsequent search turned up 34.48 lbs, or approximately 15 kilos of field-tested positive marijuana.
Bail was initially set at $10,000, and Bellamy made her first court appearance on the charge on Monday afternoon.
The Dakota County Attorney’s Office announced on Friday that Parker Jay Benson, 18, of Bloomington has been certified to stand trial as an adult on a felony charge of third-degree murder in connection to the death of a 15-year-old girl from West St. Paul last year.
Charges say Benson supplied a fatal dose of fentanyl that resulted in the girl’s death at her home on April 20, 2022. The girl’s mother found her face down and unresponsive in her bed that morning. A search of the victim’s phone later revealed a Snapchat conversation between the victim and “Parker” in which the sale of four pills and a meet up was discussed. Benson had originally been charged by juvenile petition in the case last July.
Benson was three months shy of his 18th birthday at the time of this offense.
Jail records also indicate that Benson has pending felony charges of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and domestic assault by strangulation in Washington County.
Benson remains in custody in Dakota County Jail on $300,000 bail on the murder charge and is scheduled to make his next court appearance on April 13.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension asked for the public’s help on Sunday in locating a woman who went missing from Winona on Friday morning, March 31. Madeline Jane Kingsbury, 26, is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 135 pounds and has brown hair and hazel eyes. She has not had contact with family or friends since going missing. Anyone with information is asked to 911 or the Winona Police Department at 507-457-6288.
Updating on April 3 to include a new picture of Kingsbury. pic.twitter.com/sIiFzA9koO
— Minnesota BCA (@MnDPS_BCA) April 3, 2023
Brooklyn Park firefighters donned wetsuits around midnight Sunday morning to rescue a dog who was stuck in a retaining pond.
The dog was rescued and reunited with its owners, the Brooklyn Park Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 5031 said in a Facebook post.
Around Minnesota
The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reported Thursday that two juveniles had been arrested following a report that other juveniles had been fired upon and a possible shooting had occurred in the area of 164th Street Northwest in Pike Bay Township.
Officers met with the two male juvenile victims and their families and discovered that no one had been injured. The juveniles told police they had been in a vehicle when they encountered two males in the roadway who fired upon them several times, and several rounds of gunfire struck their vehicle.
Deputies and officers conducted an extensive search in a large, wooded area utilizing numerous officers, a K9 team, drone teams, an ATV, and snowmobiles where the suspects fled on foot. Both juvenile male suspects were eventually taken into custody without incident and weapons were recovered.
Several agencies assisted in the search and in the ongoing investigation including the Leech Lake Tribal Police Department, Leech Lake Department of Natural Resources, and the Minnesota State Patrol.
The sheriff said the juveniles were being held at a juvenile detention center pending formal charges. No update was made available as of noon on Monday.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
