On Friday afternoon, a Minneapolis police car drove slowly down Blaisdell Avenue towards Lake Street. 

In response, a group of several dozen people moved further down the street, congregating at the KFC at the intersection. Minutes later, they returned to a spot that three of them admitted to be a spot to hang out, purchase and use fentanyl. 

“The majority of us are addicted to fentanyl. The majority of us don’t want to be,” a man who wanted to go by Alon said. “It’s just really difficult getting off without having someone to hold our hand and guide us in the right direction.” 

Alon said that he fell into a pattern of fentanyl use after becoming homeless. It was a similar story for Jeremiah and Mohamed, who told WCCO that they didn’t know where they were going to sleep on Friday night. But Blaisdell Avenue and Lake Street had become a reliable place to spend the day.

“It’s a place to go. A lot of times people don’t have a place to go,” Mohamed said. 

Both men said that drugs are abused on the block, but claimed that no one else in the neighborhood was getting hurt. 

“[There’s] not a lot of crime going on as far as like harming other people. We’re harming ourselves doing these drugs,” Jeremiah said. 

The city would likely designate the area as an open-air drug market. Just this week, Mayor Jacob Frey was joined by local law enforcement and Native American organizations to announce a crackdown on drug users and sellers in these kinds of public spaces. 

“You can get services that we will offer and you can get better. We’ll make sure that those services are readily accessible,” Frey said. “But if you don’t accept those services, you can’t continue to hurt our neighborhoods and make our streets less safe.” 

The announcement comes as concerns continue to grow over public fentanyl use, discarded needles and criminal activity in areas like Cedar Avenue and Highway 55. City officials emphasized that enforcement will be paired with efforts to connect people to resources. Those with the city say they will continue helping individuals find housing and addiction treatment while expanding access to Brixadi, a medication that helps reduce opioid cravings and withdrawal symptoms.

Naomi Wilson, a community organizer who has criticized Frey’s approach towards drug markets and homeless encampments in the past, said that “criminalization” will only create more harm, and that the city should explore designating safe, public areas for drug use while creating more stable housing options. 

“All we are asking from the mayor is to partner with advocates to partner with City Council on an interim step that’s not criminalization,” Wilson said. “I think the issue is that with all the fencing around the city, people don’t have anywhere to be. They don’t have anywhere where they can be safe at nighttime.”  

On social media, Councilmember Jason Chavez likened Mayor Frey’s announcement to the city starting a “War on Drugs.” 

“Our community has told us what it actually needs. A safe location, safe outdoor spaces, tiny home villages, real pathways off the street, and housing first, a compassionate approach, not another arrest that leaves someone with a record, further from housing, further from a job, and further from the stability they need to get well,” Chavez posted online. 

He ignored a request for comment from WCCO. 

On Blaisdell Avenue, Jeremiah was blunt. He said he knew city services were available, noting that many simply weren’t interested. 

“Whether people are a drug addict or just lazy, they don’t tend to go for it. But they’re [services] definitely available,” Jeremiah said. 

During Thursday’s announcement, Frey argued that the goal is not criminalization. 

“After years of outreach, we cannot stand by while drug use continues to harm our neighbors,” Frey said. 

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.