BY AMY MAYRON, JUDITH YATES BORGER, PHILLIP PIÑA and DAVID HAWLEY
Pioneer Press
Posted on Sat, Aug. 24, 2002

http://www.twincities.com...927267.htm

Minneapolis officials urged calm on Friday and planned heightened security in North Minneapolis in the aftermath of a melee that erupted after an 11-year-old boy was accidentally wounded by a police bullet the night before.

Mayor R.T. Rybak and Police Chief Robert Olson visited the shooting victim and met with community leaders in the Jordan neighborhood. City Inc., a community action organization, announced plans to conduct an evening walk to make the area's streets more secure.

Community and religious leaders fanned out through the neighborhood, and a federal mediator from the U.S. Justice Department arrived to hold conflict-resolution sessions with local residents and city officials.

At the same time, police officials and community activists painted a disturbing picture of a street corner in the Jordan neighborhood — an intersection where 397 citizen complaints to police about drug dealers have been made in the past year, including 12 complaints about drug activities in a single house.

It is not clear how many were living in the home at 1716 26th Ave. N., but police listed 18 people on a report after the house was raided at about 7:15 p.m. Thursday. On Friday, when authorities charged a 48-year-old woman who lived there with endangering children, investigators said at least 10 children under the age of 14 were found on the premises during the raid.

The injured boy, Julius Powell, was released from North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale on Friday after being treated for a wound made by a bullet that passed through his left forearm.

"I don't remember it," Julius said of the shooting. His mother, Stacey Powell, said the boy was taking out the garbage when he was shot.

Thursday's incident was not the first time a shooting involving a young Powell family member sparked a violent aftermath, said Minneapolis Police Inspector Tim Dolan.

In May 1992, rioters in the Jordan neighborhood attacked a television crew following an incident where a 66-year-old man shot Redario Powell, then 15, for riding his bicycle across the man's lawn. A riot broke out after a false rumor — that the boy had been shot by a policeman — circulated. It is unclear how Julius is related to Redario.

Former KMSP-TV reporter Julia Sandidge and cameraman Rod Wermager were attacked as they were attempting to cover a fire that had been set by the mob. Sandidge suffered a concussion that caused long-term injuries and Wermager was knocked unconscious.

Retired Police Sgt. Anne McClandless, who has lived in the Jordan neighborhood for more than 20 years, remembered the earlier incident.

"If the poor people who are out there rioting want their story told, why target the news media?" McClandless asked. "The answer is, they don't want documentation."

In Thursday night's incident, police said they were firing at a pit bull that was attacking them and that one shot ricocheted off a concrete sidewalk and hit the boy.

In the hours after the shooting, about 75 to 100 people gathered near the house and began pelting officers with bottles and rocks. The Rev. Shane Price, a local minister, was brought in by police to talk to the crowd and he helped calm things down, Olson said.

In a further effort to reduce tension, 20 to 30 police officers decided to pull away from the immediate scene. At that point, some in the crowd directed their anger primarily at reporters who had remained in the area.

A television news vehicle and a car owned by a Pioneer Press reporter were burned and five journalists were injured, though none was hospitalized. Rioters broke out windows in another television news vehicle and also directed their anger at a Metro Transit bus, which sustained broken windows before it drove away.

As of Friday, the only person charged in connection with the narcotics raid and ensuing melee was the boy's grandmother, Shirley Ann Powell, who was arrested Thursday evening.

Investigators are reviewing police and bus videotapes of the violence to determine identities of those involved.

A complaint filed Friday alleged that officers conducting the raid discovered a loaded handgun stuffed in a fast-food bag on the floor of the home's front porch. Investigators said Powell told them she had put the gun in the bag after a friend had given it to her and that she had forgotten about it.

Two others who had been arrested with Powell on Thursday were released.

Officers said they were familiar with the house and members of the extended Powell family. Minneapolis Police Inspector Tim Dolan of the 4th Precinct said the family has a long criminal history in the Twin Cities, most of it narcotics-related.

"They're very antagonistic towards the community they live in and the police," Dolan said, adding that officers had served three search warrants this summer at three different Powell family homes.

At a news conference late Friday afternoon, Olson said officers conducting the raid wore full body armor because they had been threatened during a marijuana arrest at the same residence several weeks ago.

Ironically, many of the children who frequented the house, including Julius, worked in a community "peace" garden that members of the community had established next door.

By Friday morning, community leaders, city officials and police were seeking ways to calm tensions in the neighborhood. The Rev. Curtis Herron, pastor at Zion Baptist Church on the North Side, led prayer vigils on neighborhood streets.

Joyce Moore, who lives in the Jordan neighborhood and says she's an evangelist at the Shiloh Temple in Robbinsdale, stopped by the house that had been raided the previous evening.

"I want you to come to the church and think about it," she told a group of people gathered on the stoop in front of the home. "Think about it before we make mistakes."

Late Friday, city officials disclosed that a representative of the Community Relations Service of the U.S. Justice Department in Washington had arrived in the Twin Cities and was meeting with residents of the Jordan neighborhood.

Several community members said local residents had demanded Thursday's raid, though it was marred by the accidental shooting.

"Actually, what happened was probably a direct response to a community outcry," said Don Samuels, a community activist.

Speaking at one of several news conferences that took place Friday, Samuels, an African-American, said he was disturbed that some were characterizing Thursday's raid and riot as a racial incident.

"It was a crime issue with racial dynamics," he said.

During a later interview, Samuels said the African-American community has an essential role in ending violence and crime in the Jordan neighborhood.

"People in the neighborhood listen to me because I am a black man," he said. "When I go down to the corner and speak to drug dealers, they hear me differently because I am a black man. There is an important element of race in our community and within our community. We need to be honest about that."

Before Thursday's raid and shooting, tensions in the neighborhood had been running high following an incident Aug. 13 in which police shot and wounded a 19-year-old African-American man who allegedly pointed a gun at an officer. In the aftermath of that situation, a white police officer was alleged to have made a disparaging reference — "You all got one of ours. Now we got one of yours." — about a previous shooting.

The alleged statement, currently under investigation by police internal affairs, referred to a South Minneapolis shooting on Aug. 1 that left an African-American woman and a white police officer dead.
[This message was edited Sat Aug 24 15:44:07 PDT 2002 by july]

johnny said: