21. Marvin Easter, shooting inside the 4th street saloon, where Antonio Ford (9) was killed earlier in the year. An officer shot the suspect.

22. Was a Domestic violence related death. The only information I had for this one was from an MPD press release which only gave the address, no name. It was a shooting in North and the suspect was apprehended at the scene.

23. Otis Watson, 35. Not too much info about this one either. It happened in North and was part of a larger incident in which 5 other people were wounded. Watson was taken to HCMC where he died from his injuries. Mr. Watson was no stranger to the courts for a wide variety of charges although he only had two previous convictions for disorderly conduct at the time he died.

24. Lorenzo Guffie. Shot after a dispute at a bar in the South Minneapolis Cedar-Riverside area. Suspect arrested later.

25. Charez Jones, 14, was coming home from a party and shot in gang-related crossfire. Parallels were drawn to Vernice Hall, a girl of about the same age was also shot in crossfire at or near a house party also on the Northside a few months later. Unlike Charez, Vernice did not die but remains seriously affected by her injuries. In Charez’ case 2 16 year olds and an 18 year old were arrested. This case, like nearly all gang shooting cases was complicated since confessions were achieved by some subterfuge and pressure being brought upon juveniles by police detectives. Some of the elements of the interrogation were put to the legal test and failed. Since the shooter was one of the juveniles and the 18 year old had the most serious of his charges thrown out, there wasn’t much to the resolution to the case.

26. Kira Simonian, 32. Graduate Art student whose stabbing death shocked her peaceful South Minneapolis neighborhood. From the start, police signaled that she was likely to have been killed by someone she knew. Her husband at first appeared to have an alibi but gradually a case was built against him upon forensic evidence and witness statements. Real CSI stuff. He was charged with her murder a few months after the killing and the last I read, he was proclaiming his innocence.

27. and 28. were one off disputes or fights without much published information. In 27, the victim walked into Abbot Hospital and collapsed.

29. Daniel Wells. Killed during a fight that took place on 6th and Hennepin, downtown. There was little information available about this case and as far as I can tell there are no public records to be had. The last word from MPD PR was that the case had “unique circumstances.” One person complained anonymously on the blog about the lack of information and suggested that the prime suspect was a foreign national.

30. Allison Daniels. Daniels was found shot to death in a room at the Radisson Hotel. The motive for her killing was revenge for a scam involving a Las Vegas wedding. Neither she nor the prime suspect who was later located in Wisconsin was from Minnesota. He committed suicide while awaiting extradition from Wisconsin.

31. Montrell Burbridge. Juvenile male shot to death in North Minneapolis.

32. Jose Cardenas-Rochas. Stabbed in South Minneapolis in a dispute over a woman. Suspect arrested at the scene.

33. Heli Hernandez Leon. Drive-by in South Minneapolis. Suspect fled the state and was later apprehended by US Marshalls in IL.

34. Zachary King Jr. 7 year old boy killed by family pit bull. The father was charged with second degree manslaughter. The killing was part of a wave of “dangerous dog” attacks that spurred an effort into banning or otherwise restricting such dogs.

35. Mark Loesch. Next to Charez Jones and Kira Simonian, probably one of the more sensationalized murders of this past year. Loesch was a 41 year old father of 4 who went for a bike ride to a friends’ house and was beaten to death by a known drug dealer. The case sparked a huge debate about how safe South Minneapolis really is and all hell broke loose when the MPD spokesperson suggested that Loesch was buying drugs, making the incident “non random.” The comment turned out to be based on the word of the prime suspect in the killing, a guy with a previous history of lying to police. Loesch’s family and friends were outraged as was one of the detectives in the case, Sgt. Charlie Adams. Adams was moved from homicide in the wake of his critical public comments and later became part of a lawsuit against the department, along with four other ranking black officers, alleging discrimination.

36. Stabbing on the south side, I have no other information.

37. Marvin Latimer. Shooting on South side. Deemed “non-random” by the MPD. No other information.

38. Kevin Lewis. Lewis and two females were involved in a scam to rob a man after soliciting him for prostitution. Instead the man successfully fought back killing Lewis and wounding one of the women. The victim/killer was implied to be an illegal alien who disappeared after the event.

39. and 40. A double homicide in North Minneapolis that stemmed from a robbery. The victims and the assailant knew each other. There were witnesses and a suspect was arrested.