Minneapolis, MN
Growing encampment in South Minneapolis prompts safety concerns
Welna Hardware is a family business with deep roots in South Minneapolis.
“We’ve been on the block for seventy years,” owner Mark Welna says.
But he explains he has concerns about a new neighbor.
“We have another encampment in the old Super America parking lot,” Welna notes. “It’s just been very tough on the neighborhood.”
He says about three weeks ago, a couple of tents began appearing just across the street, at East 25th Street and Bloomington Avenue.
The encampment is now much bigger — and Welna says it’s having an impact.
“The shoplifting at the store, the panhandling, people afraid to come across Lake Street and shop at our store,” he declares. “On a daily basis, we’ve had people coming in and out that we’ve had to kick out that have been from the encampment.”
Welna, who has tenants living in a building next to the encampment, says some of them have moved out because of safety concerns.
“It’s really unsafe, and we really need something done,” says Angel Roa. “This is getting worse every time.”
Roa, a longtime employee at the store, has lived in the building since 1992.
He showed us hypodermic needles littering an alley behind his apartment — and part of a cardboard box used as an outdoor restroom.
Roa says the needles began appearing when the encampment went up.
He adds his 80-year-old mother, visiting from Puerto Rico, is afraid to leave the building.
“Every time we have to open the door, there’s people blocking the door using heroin and all kinds of drugs,” Roa says. “You see young people doing the heroin and stuff right in your face. It is sad.”
Welna says he believes police are doing what they can — there is an MPD security camera right next to the encampment.
“I feel bad that people feel like that, I don’t like it that people are scared or in fear, but I doubt that’s happening,” declares Nicole Nalewaja.
A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS crew tried to speak with people in the encampment but were asked to leave.
But Nalewaja — who says she has friends and family there, agreed to be interviewed.
“We started in tents, teepees, and wigwams, whatever, right?” she says. “So, it’s like a community, we’re like a family, right, so why is that a bad thing?”
Nalewaja disputes that encampment residents have done any shoplifting at Welna’s store — and says there were drug issues in the area long before the encampment arrived.
She argues that people have a right to live there.
“We don’t want to live in houses, some people don’t want to live in houses, they want to live like we used to live,” Nalewaja declares. “So, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
City Council member Jason Chavez, who represents the area, released a statement Saturday, which says in part:
“People are going to live outside until we have enough public health infrastructure to meet their needs. If we don’t have adequate shelter space that’s effective for people and they have nowhere to go, they will be living outside in the community.”
Chavez says the city recently lost a total of one-hundred-thirty shelter beds, run by two different programs, despite a search for resources by Agate, a Minneapolis housing and services non-profit.
He says he’s also reached out to city staff to see how to address issues like more “proactively cleaning up the neighborhood and cleaning up the needles.”
On Monday, Ward 8 Council Member Andrea Jenkins is hosting a meeting to discuss the city’s unhoused community and encampment issues.
Chavez says the City Council will hold a public hearing on September 11th to discuss one of four ordinances designed to address homelessness in the city.
Still — Roa says he’s worried about the future.
“Ten years from now, what’s my neighborhood going to be?” he asks. “I work here, I go to church here, I go to the bars here, my grocery store is a few blocks away. This has been my life for over thirty years.”
Welna — who’s planning to sell the store to his children to keep the business in the family, hopes there will be a path to move forward.
“It’s very, very sad. I’m kind of at my wit’s end about this situation,” he says. “But I would hate to close down the store because of crime. That’s the part that really, it tugs at my heart.”
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The story behind Anthony Edwards wearing a bright orange bracelet since last season has received a positive development, after Timberwolves fans learned Luca Wright has beaten leukemia.
Anthony Edwards, Luca Wright connection
What we know:
Last January, the 6-year-old Minnesotan met “Ant” for the first time following a game against the Detroit Pistons, proclaiming him to be his favorite player, and asking him to wear a bracelet that symbolizes leukemia awareness, resilience and support for those affected. During the interaction, the fan had created a sign with a to-do list: “1. Beat Cancer. 2. Be The Next MJ.”
Leukemia is a type of cancer that spreads throughout the bloodstream, infecting bone marrow and a person’s lymphatic system by rapid production of abnormal white blood cells that can’t fight infection.
Since then, the Wolves’ MVP has worn a bracelet that proclaims, “Love Like Luca” on it for every game he has played, vowing to wear it “until he hangs up his sneakers.”
Ant has gone on to explain how the gesture connected with him given that he lost both his mother, Yvette, and grandmother, Shirley, to cancer when he was 14 years old. The No. 5 jersey he wears currently is a tribute to them both.
Luca bracelet latest
Dig deeper:
More than a year later, Wolves fans have received the update they hoped for – now 7-year-old Luca has beaten his cancer.
What’s next:
Ant has since responded to the news with his own social media video, calling it “God’s gift” and saying, “Let’s do this Luca.”
No word yet on whether he intends to keep wearing the bracelet, though he’s previously said he has a stash of replacements near the team bench should one ever be broken.
The Source: Information provided by the Minnesota Timberwolves public relations department.
A Minneapolis family is struggling to make sense of a tragedy that has left them heartbroken.
Family tells WCCO 14-year-old Xavier Barnett and 23-year-old Akwame Stewart were killed Monday.
The brothers were very different, but equally loved. Barnett was a good student and athlete. Stewart was a painter, creative and thoughtful. Two brothers, loved and full of promise, gone.
Police say the accused shooter is their cousin, 23-year-old Eddie Duncan.
Court records show Duncan was released on bail Monday on charges of fleeing law enforcement and possession of a gun modified with an “auto sear switch.”
Court records also show Duncan was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation, but not until next month, on March 24.
Deasia Freeman, Barnett and Stewart’s sister, says this loss could have been prevented.
“They all failed us. We got two innocent lives gone for no reason. Didn’t do nothing to nobody,” Freeman said.
Family members say the system and Duncan’s family let them down.
Freeman says Duncan’s family saw the warning signs and still bailed him out
“If you knew this man was thinking like this, y’all should have kept him in there and he should not even have bail,” she said.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office says they noted Duncan was a public safety risk and asked for a high bail, much higher than a typical request.
“In Minnesota, there is a constitutional right to bail, and the bail amount is set by the Court. Our office noted a public safety risk with Mr. Duncan and asked the judge to set bail at $70,000, or $35,000 with conditions; both of which are higher than we would typically request in this scenario. The judge set bail in that amount. Mr. Duncan posted $35,000 bail with conditions of release, as is allowed under the Minnesota Constitution, and was released from custody. Our thoughts are with all those impacted by yesterday’s violence. This was a terrible tragedy for this family and our community,” a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said.
For Freeman and her family, the hardest part isn’t just the legal process but living each day without their brothers.
Even in the heartbreak, she says the memories of the good days, the laughter and love they shared will carry them through.
“I wish I could get just one more phone call from them asking me where I’m at,” Freeman said as tears rolled down her face.
Court records confirm Duncan left the scene of the crime and fled to nearby Brooklyn Center. There, a search warrant says Duncan “fired a gun at officers, striking two squads,” when police arrived. That’s when officers returned fire, shooting and killing him.
Three officers have been placed on critical incident leave as the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension leads the investigation into Duncan’s fatal shooting.
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