Charges allege suspect in St. Paul murders told father he ‘snapped’

In the Pioneer Press, Deanna Weniger writes: “After he shot four people inside an SUV, authorities say Antoine Darnique Suggs drove around St. Paul for hours, stopped to talk with his mother, got gas and a drink, and asked his father to follow him to Wisconsin where he dumped the vehicle in a cornfield.  … ‘Suggs told his father that he snapped and shot a couple of people,’ is all the criminal complaint offers as a motive for the quadruple homicide. Suggs, 38, was charged Tuesday … with four counts of second-degree murder with intent in the fatal shooting deaths of siblings Jasmine Christine Sturm, 30, and Matthew Isiah Pettus, 26, both of St. Paul; and friends Nitosha Lee Flug-Presley, 30, of Stillwater; and Loyace Foreman III, 35, of St. Paul.”

This from the Star Tribune’s Jeremy Olson, “Minnesota’s tracking of how and where people are infected with the coronavirus has plummeted in the latest COVID-19 wave, with 80% of infections identified in August coming from unknown sources. The change from an unknown rate of 41% at this time one year ago reflects an increase in social activities that makes it hard to pinpoint where someone got infected, but also a pullback of state contact tracing in the era of COVID-19 vaccinations.”

At MPR, Tom Crann and Megan Burks report: “Attorneys for the three former Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd are expected to argue that their clients had not been trained to intervene when a fellow officer uses too much force. Now, the department is adopting a training program designed to do just that. It’s called ABLE, or Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement, and it was developed Georgetown Law’s Innovative Policing Program and the law firm Sheppard Mullin. It taps research and training in other fields, including surgery and aviation, to teach people how to step in when their colleague — even a senior colleague — is likely to cause harm.”

In the Star Tribune, David Chanen writes: “The Hennepin County Board on Tuesday approved a 3.5% maximum property tax levy for 2022 and $1 million to fund an anti-hate initiative. The levy will fund $900 million of next year’s $2.4 billion budget, which will be up for a vote on Dec. 14. The board has raised the property tax levy each year by an average of 4.6% since 2015. … Last year, the board approved a 0% levy increase for the county’s 2021 budget to alleviate financial hardships caused by the pandemic. The county used $465 million in COVID-19-related federal funding to offset the tax loss.”

This from Anthony Lonetree at the Star Tribune, “Six Minnesota schools were recognized Tuesday as National Blue Ribbon Schools for their overall academic performance or success in closing achievement gaps among student groups. … The Minnesota Blue Ribbon Schools are Barnesville Elementary School in Barnesville, Roosevelt Middle School in Blaine, Twin Lakes Elementary in Elk River, Minnetonka West Middle School in Excelsior, McKinley Elementary in Ham Lake and St. Croix Preparatory Academy Middle School in Stillwater.”

A KSTP-TV story by Joe Mazan says, “A convenience store that was looted and heavily damaged on consecutive days during the May 2020 riots following the death of George Floyd is finally reopening. Stop N Shop, located along East Lake Street in Minneapolis, reopened Tuesday after being closed for nearly 16 months.”

WCCO-TV reports: “Attention shoppers, BYOB returns to Minneapolis next week. That is — bring your own bag. Starting Oct. 1, stores in the state’s largest city will charge customers 5 cents for each bag they use, no matter if the bags are paper or plastic. Shoppers can avoid the fees by using reusable bags. The city says the change will be better for the environment. Officials also hope the policy will result in a drop in litter and fewer clogs at recycling plants. The bag fee was put on hold in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when there were concerns the virus could spread on surfaces.”

Also from the AP: “The Minnesota Wild signed left wing Kirill Kaprizov to a five-year, $45 million contract on Tuesday, ending a stalemate between the team and the Calder Trophy winner just two days before the beginning of training camp. The 24-year-old Kaprizov topped the Wild and all NHL rookies with 27 goals in 55 games last season. He was one of four first-year players to lead a team in scoring during the regular season and qualify for the playoffs, since the league tracked data from 1992. … The native of Novokuznetsk, Russia, set franchise rookie records in several categories including goals, power-play goals, even-strength goals, assists and points, even while playing a schedule shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic.”