The Minneapolis Police Department fired an officer in February for liking a comment on social media supporting the lynching of a Black man, according to Internal Affairs documents.

The comment in question was made in March 2024 in a Facebook group called Minneapolis Police Officers and Civilian Employees, Current and Retired, which has no official affiliation with the department, police said.

In response to a news article about a suspect accused of killing a police officer, someone commented, “Get a [r]ope and find a tree,” and Klimmek liked the comment from his personal account, the MPD investigation found. The suspect appeared to be Black.

Klimmek admitted to liking the comment in an investigative interview, but said he did not know the phrase carried any racial connotations. He said he liked it because, “I was probably supportive of that post, uh, the death penalty for someone who murdered a police officer,” MPD documents show.

WCCO has reached out to the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis for comment.  

“Officer Klimmek’s claim of not knowing that the phrase, ‘Get a rope and find a tree’ is affiliated with an unquestionably violent history of racism and slavery, and his claimed lack of knowledge demonstrates how out of touch he is with history,” then-Chief Brian O’Hara wrote in his findings. “The public cannot trust his judgment, and I cannot trust his judgment.”

In his investigative interview, Klimmek “did not express any remorse for his actions,” the department said, and he “just does not understand or appreciate his role in upholding the public trust or the betrayal of that trust inherent in the comment that he liked.”

O’Hara said Klimmek’s conduct “has had a serious negative impact on the professionalism of the MPD and has demonstrated a serious lack of integrity, ethics and character related to his fitness to hold his position.”

He added later in the document that “officers do not have the power of ‘judge, jury, and executioner.’ Even if Officer Klimmek believes in the death penalty, which he is certainly entitled to, officers must respect due process and conduct themselves accordingly so as to not call into question their fitness to serve.”

The department terminated Klimmek on Feb. 20 for violating its social media conduct policies. He received one-on-one social media policy training in 2015, the investigation noted.

Minneapolis Police Department records show three previous disciplinary measures for Klimmek, all suspensions. In 2020, he stood by while a security officer punched a handcuffed suspect in the stomach. In 2021, he ran a red light and caused a crash. And in 2024, he failed to properly search a suspect and allowed him to bring a loaded handgun into the Hennepin County Jail. 

The department’s online dashboard shows at least 20 complaints against Klimmek since 2012, four of which are still open.

O’Hara noted in his decision that Klimmek’s actions came after the murder of George Floyd and investigations by both the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and U.S. Department of Justice that found a pattern of racial discrimination by the department.

O’Hara himself resigned in May after an internal investigation found he interfered with a probe into his own actions.

This weekend downtown Minneapolis is hosting the Taste of Minnesota, offering free music performances and more than 100 food trucks and artist vendors. FOX 9’s Leon Purvis is onsite with a preview of what’s to come.

What does it look like to carry your culture with you? When Minneapolis architect and photographer Patricia Mutebi posted a casting call on TikTok in December, she was looking for a way to map how immigrants and diaspora communities in Minnesota keep their heritage close. 

She initially planned to photograph Twin Cities residents in their homes, but Operation Metro Surge, the federal immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota, forced her to reconsider the safety of her subjects. 

“I didn’t think that people would feel comfortable letting a stranger into their home, trying to take pictures of them,” Mutebi said. “From January all through April, I photographed those who were comfortable coming into the downtown [Minneapolis] area.” 

The result is “Threads of Us,” a portrait exhibit featuring 20 Hmong, Thai, Indian, African, Pakistani and Indigenous people who have built a life in the Twin Cities. 

After seeing the exhibit, spend the rest of the weekend at the annual Taste of Minnesota, revisit soul music of the 1990s at the Dakota or watch Saturday’s World Cup matches at a street fair in Minneapolis. 

Finding home in Minnesota

In “Threads of Us,” Mutebi asked each person she photographed the same question: What does home look like after you’ve left it behind?

“Each person I photographed taught me something new about perseverance and resilience,” Mutebi said. “They’ve come into a new place that doesn’t necessarily welcome them openly, but they’re choosing to show up as their authentic self regardless. Nothing could honestly beat that.” 

Mutebi understands the feeling. She was born in Uganda, studied architecture in Kenya, and moved to Minnesota in 2019. 

“I have friends here who have families that know how to cook Kenyan food, and whenever I go visit them, there’s a smell that just hits me, and I’m taken back to a time when I was an undergrad,” she said. “In the first house that I bought, I have this gallery wall that shows the journey I’ve traveled. It has art from Kenya, from Uganda, and pictures of friends and family. That’s the most treasured thing I have.” 

She also draws inspiration from architects like Burkinabé-German designer Diébédo Francis Kéré, whose work centers on Indigenous materials and community-led design across Africa. 

He “didn’t try to bring the Western world with him,” Mutebi said. “He was designing for the culture — where it sat, and using the materials they have to help people understand that we have these resources already.” 

For “Threads of Us,” participants arrived in traditional clothing — from Hmong vests and Ethiopian habesha dresses to Ghanaian kente cloth and Pakistani shalwar kameez. They brought meaningful objects, including wedding garments, family heirlooms, Oromo beadwork, Somali incense burners and Ethiopian coffee ceremony sets. Each item served as a tangible bridge to their families and homelands. 

“I found people who have photographed cultures in the most beautiful way and have captured joy without trying to modernize the culture,” Mutebi said. “I want to photograph people where they’re at and how they move through life without trying to change them one way or another.” 

Threads of Us, now on view at The Residency by Modern Day Me in Minneapolis, is Mutebi’s first exhibit — but she’s already thinking about what comes next. She was recently selected for the cohort of the Little Africa residency program, where she will partner with local African-descent business owners to tell their stories through photography. 

“Unless you’re Indigenous, you came from somewhere,” Mutebi said. “I want people to take the time to think about what it means to them and how they can show up in the places they are now.”

Taste of Minnesota

Spend your Fourth of July weekend at the Taste of Minnesota, where 18 local musicians and more than 100 food vendors will take over downtown Minneapolis for the annual two-day festival. 

The main stage will feature grunge-pop band Gully Boys, hip-hop artist Nur-D, singer-songwriter Dessa, and DJ Sophia Eris. The North Star Stage will spotlight emerging acts, including Frankie Torres, Adam David Bohanan, and Solana and the Sunsets. 

A night of ’90s soul

If music from the 1995 film “Waiting to Exhale” still has a place on your playlist, head to the Dakota this Friday for the Ladies of Soul tribute show. 

Local singers Solorah, Ashley Commodore and Monique Blakey will perform the soundtrack from start to finish, revisiting songs by Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Mary J. Blige, Brandy and Aretha Franklin. 

World Cup watch party 

Catch the knockout rounds between Canada and Morocco and Paraguay and France at the World Cup Street Fair in Minneapolis this Saturday. 

Utepils Brewing will show both games on large indoor and outdoor screens, while the street fair will feature food trucks, art vendors, mini soccer games and DJ sets between kickoffs.