Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis agrees to overhaul police training and policies following Floyd murder
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, flanked by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, left, and Chief Brian O’Hara of the Minneapolis Police Department, speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Courthouse in Minneapolis, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.
Jeff Wheeler/AP/Star Tribune
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Jeff Wheeler/AP/Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council on Monday approved an agreement with the federal government to overhaul the city’s police training and use-of-force policies in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
The deal incorporates and builds on changes the Minneapolis Police Department has made since Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white officer in 2020, prompting a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.
The 171-page agreement, filed in federal court shortly after the council voted 12-0 to approve it, says the department will require its officers to “promote the sanctity of human life as the highest priority in their activities.” It says officers must “carry out their law enforcement duties with professionalism and respect for the dignity of every person.” And it says they must not allow race, gender or ethnicity “to influence any decision to use force, including the amount or type of force used.”
The agreement, known as a consent decree, will put the department under long-term court supervision. It had been under negotiation since the Department of Justice issued a scathing critique of the city’s police in June 2023.
Department officials alleged that police engaged in systematic racial discrimination, violated constitutional rights and disregarded the safety of people in custody for years before Floyd was killed. The report was the result of a sweeping two-year investigation that confirmed many citizen complaints about police conduct. It found that Minneapolis officers used excessive force, including “unjustified deadly force,” and violated the rights of people engaged in constitutionally protected speech.
“George Floyd’s death was not just a tragedy, it was a galvanizing force for the city and for the nation,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said at a news conference. “All eyes remain on Minneapolis, and with this consent decree, we now have a roadmap for reform that will help this community heal while strengthening trust between law enforcement and the people they serve.”
An independent monitor will oversee the changes and a judge must approve them. A hearing has not yet been scheduled, but officials hope that approval comes quickly.
During his first administration, President-elect Donald Trump was critical of consent decrees as anti-police. Finalizing the Minneapolis agreement before he returns to office Jan. 20 would make it harder for him to undercut the deal, because changes would require court approval. Clarke declined to predict how vigorously the incoming administration will or won’t try to enforce the consent decree.
The council’s brief public vote followed an hourslong closed-door discussion.
“I’d like to thank our community for standing together, united in this, and for having patience with us as we have traveled a very, very long and challenging journey,” Council President Elliott Payne said after the vote. “We’re just beginning, and we know we have a long way to go. Our success will only be realized when we all work together on what is arguably one of the most important issues in the life of our city.”
Council member Robin Wonsley said in a statement before the vote that she has “no faith that the Trump administration will be a serious partner” in implementing the agreement.
A woman stops to photograph a memorial for George Floyd at The Fountain of Praise church in Houston, June 9, 2020, in Houston.
Eric Gay/AP
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Eric Gay/AP
“Having a federal consent decree signed and in place is valuable to police reform efforts, but we need to be sober about the fact that it will take local political will to hold the city and the (Mayor Jacob) Frey administration accountable to implementing and enforcing the terms of the consent decree,” she said.
A state court judge in 2023 approved a similar agreement between Minneapolis and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights after the state agency issued its own blistering report in 2022. The state investigation found that the city’s police had engaged in a pattern of race discrimination for at least a decade.
The Justice Department has opened 12 similar investigations of state and local law enforcement agencies since April 2021, many in response to high-profile deaths at the hands of police. Assuming court approval, Clarke said, the department will be enforcing 16 policing “pattern and practices” settlements across the country. She said 30 years of experience shows that they lead to “important and tangible progress toward better, safer, and lawful policing.”
The department has reached agreements with Seattle, New Orleans, Baltimore, Chicago and Ferguson, Missouri. A consent decree with Louisville, Kentucky, after an investigation prompted by the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor is waiting court approval. In Memphis, Tennessee, the mayor last month pushed back against pressure for a consent decree there, saying his city has made hundreds of positive changes since the beating death of Tyre Nichols.
Consent decrees require law enforcement to meet specific goals before federal oversight is removed, a process that often takes years and millions of dollars. A major reason Minneapolis hired Brian O’Hara as police chief in 2022 was his experience implementing a consent decree in Newark, New Jersey.
O’Hara noted that the city would be the first in the country to operate under both federal and state consent decrees. He said they showed in Newark that consent decrees can lead to meaningful change.
“We are not going to just comply with its terms, but we will exceed expectations and we will make change real for people on the street,” the chief said. “Together, we will make Minneapolis a place where everyone feels safer, and they know that Minneapolis cops will have their back.”
The mayor told reporters that officers will rise to the occasion.
“I trust the members of this department to show up every day, that you will be committed to being the change reflected in this agreement,” Frey said. “You have the ability, you have the obligation, and you have the responsibility to set the tone. Show the rest of the country, in fact, the rest of the world, what good constitutional policing looks like.”
Minneapolis, MN
Man dead, 2 others hurt in overnight shooting in Minneapolis
Police say two people were hurt and one other man died.
A homicide investigation is underway in Minneapolis after a shooting early Friday morning killed one man and hurt two others.
Minneapolis police were called to the area of East Franklin Avenue and Chicago Avenue at around 12:30 a.m.
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS cameras caught more than 65 evidence markers scattered across the ground in the area and shattered glass at a bus shelter. Some nearby businesses also appeared to have some damage.
Minneapolis police are still working to determine what led up to the shooting and who was involved but investigators say first responders found the three men suffering from gunshot wounds.
One injured man is in his 40s, the other in his 50s, police say. Both were taken to a hospital by ambulance.
The third man died at the scene. His name and age haven’t yet been publicly released.
Police say early information suggests the men were on a sidewalk when at least one person opened fire, then fled in a vehicle.
So far, no arrests have been made.
Anyone with information about what happened is asked to call police at 612-673-5845 to leave a voicemail or email policetips@minneapolismn.gov.
“This is a tragic and deeply disturbing act of violence that has taken a life, and left others seriously injured,” MPD Chief Brian O’Hara said. “This kind of violence is unacceptable, and we are committed to identifying those responsible and holding them accountable.”
Minneapolis police investigating alleyway shooting near East Franklin Avenue
It comes less than 30 hours after another serious shooting along East Franklin Avenue, just a half-mile west of Friday’s scene. That incident left a man hospitalized with a potentially life-threatening gunshot wound. No arrests have been announced in that case either.
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS is still working to learn more about this shooting. Stay with KSTP-TV for the latest updates on air and on the KSTP app.
Minneapolis, MN
A Minneapolis woman recounts death of Alex Pretti as lawyers eye a class action lawsuit
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minneapolis woman who confronted federal immigration officers alongside Alex Pretti in January was among a group of potential litigants who spoke out Thursday about alleged excessive force against people protesting or monitoring the enforcement surge in Minnesota.
Georgia Savageford, who introduced herself as Wynnie at a news conference, said she was inside an officer’s vehicle when she saw federal agents shoot Pretti.
“That day has changed me forever,” she said. “The trauma will haunt me for the rest of my life, and I will never be the same.”
Savageford said she had been legally observing the actions of federal officers in Minneapolis ever since the shooting death of Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Jan. 7. She said she was doing so again on the morning of Jan. 24 when an agent pushed her twice and caused her to fall.
“As I was going down, three agents proceeded to tackle me and drag me face-down into the middle of the street. They knelt on my back, twisted my arms and my legs to the ground, and handcuffed me. The cuffs were so tight I lost feeling in my hands, which resulted in temporary nerve damage,” she recounted.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond Thursday to emails seeking comment. Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for access to evidence they say they need to independently investigate the killings.
Savageford said Pretti recorded video of her arrest and yelled at agents to leave her alone.
She said the officers put her in the back of a vehicle, from which she saw agents shoot and kill Pretti on the other side of the street.
“At that moment, I thought I was going to die too. I pleaded with the agents to understand why another life was taken, and to not take mine,” she said.
She added that they told her to shut up and to stop being hysterical. She said they then took her to an ICE holding facility where she was held for 12 hours in a cold cell without ready access to food, water or the bathroom until she was released without being charged.
“I did not know him, but I knew he had my back,” she said of Pretti. “I know the kind of heart he had. One that loves and protects without limits.”
Savageford shared her story at a news conference where civil rights attorney John Burris, of Oakland, California, and other lawyers laid out how they’re paving the way for potential class-action lawsuits over alleged excessive force used against protesters and monitors.
Burris, who specializes in police misconduct, helped win an $11 million settlement against the Oakland Police Department in 2003, and helped win a civil jury verdict of $3.8 million for the late motorist Rodney King, who was beaten by Los Angeles police officers in 1991.
He said he and his colleagues have filed complaints with federal agencies involved in the Minnesota enforcement surge on behalf of 10 people, including Savageford, as the first step in a process that’s likely to lead to a larger class-action lawsuit.
“We have many others that are under investigation that have not completed the process. But I thought it was important for us to start this process now. Put the government on notice that we’re here,” Burris said.
Minneapolis, MN
Boy who shielded classmate during school shooting receives Medal of Honor
WASHINGTON (TNND) — A fifth grader from Minneapolis received the Citizen Honor Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
Victor Greenawalt jumped in front of his friend during a mass shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
Weston Halsne told local station KARE 11 that Greenawalt saved his life.
“It was really scary,” Halsne told KARE 11. “My friend Victor, like, saved me, though. Because he laid on top of me. But he got hit.”
Two students were killed and several were injured after a shooter opened fire through the windows of the church last year. The shooter died on the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The Congressional Medal Society said in a statement that Greenawalt showed “extraordinary bravery far beyond his years.”
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – SEPTEMBER 3: Flowers line a pathway to Annunciation Catholic Church as U.S. Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance visit to pay their respects to victims of the shooting there on September 3, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The shooting left two students dead and many more wounded. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski-Pool/Getty Images)
“Instinctively, Victor protected a classmate with his own body, directly saving their life during the attack,” the society said in a written statement. “His courage and selflessness became a powerful symbol of hope and humanity for a community in crisis.”
Greenawalt was hospitalized following the shooting, according to a verified GoFundMe page. His sister was also injured.
He flew to Washington with his family on Wednesday to accept the award.
Greeenawalt met with Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., while on Capitol Hill. The ceremony also included a wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery.
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He received the Young Hero award, which honors individuals age 17 or younger for their courage.
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