Minneapolis, MN — “We are asking for his immediate release!” Cynthia Haynes demanded passionately, calling for her brother’s release from prison while holding two signs – one read “Free Marvin Haynes Now,” the other, “Justice 4 Marvin Haynes.” As the case of Marvin Haynes starts…
Minneapolis, MN – When Officers Rollins and Smelter pulled up in front of Jerry’s Flower Shop on Sunday morning, May 16, 2004, they saw a woman run out the front door. She was screaming.
She told the officers that her brother was inside and that…
Minneapolis, MN – A Minneapolis Public Schools teacher talked to Unicorn Riot about the Minneapolis Police Department’s (MPD) newly created PEACE Recruitment Program and the teachers union’s recent decision to oppose it.
“The police are desperate now and they’re coming for our kids.”
Minneapolis Public…
The story of Marvin Haynes is also the story of Harry Sherer — a 55-year-old man who lived a few blocks from his family’s flower shop who everyone called by his nickname, Randy. Most days, Randy walked to the shop to sit and talk to…
Minneapolis, MN – The grainy surveillance camera footage shows a small interrogation room—fifteen-by-fifteen, white walls, short cut-pile dark carpet, circular table, and a blue swivel chair. A door on the far wall stands open to the hallways and cubicles beyond. The date in the corner…
Minneapolis, MN – Two years after being arrested during a New Year’s Eve noise demo and charged with misdemeanor riot, one person has taken her case to trial this week in which her supporters are calling on the broader community for court support. [UPDATE: Justina…
Minneapolis, MN – Dozens of Minneapolis Police cars from all five precincts, including SWAT officers, bike patrol, undercovers and a Minnesota State Patrol helicopter, suppressed a lightly attended protest for Tyre Nichols before it could start.
Nichols, a 29-year-old photographer and father of one, was…
Minneapolis, MN – After providing a safer community for unhoused residents in Minneapolis for more than a year, the Quarry encampment was evicted during a large-scale police operation on Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. About a dozen people were displaced from the eviction, the majority of…
Minneapolis, MN – With life-threatening cold this winter season, the City of Minneapolis continues to evict encampments, displacing unsheltered people and throwing away their personal belongings, including propane tanks they rely on for warmth. The longstanding Quarry encampment in Northeast Minneapolis is the latest under…
Since its founding, CUAPB has acted as a clearinghouse for scrutiny of Minnesota law enforcement. The nonprofit has organized police oversight pushes, streets copwatch programs, a 24-hour hotline, and an online database of police officer complaints, among dozens of other projects. And their efforts are ever-expanding – the group recently formed the Stolen Lives Justice Fund, a new Reinvestigations Workgroup and a Data Practices Workgroup.
Majority voters in the dairy state rejected the right-wing views of the construction mogul.
On Tuesday, Tim Michels, co-owner of the Michels Corporation, lost the Wisconsin governor’s race to incumbent Democratic Governor Tony Evers by three points, giving Evers a second term in office. The…
Minneapolis, MN – On Oct. 6, 2022, the City of Minneapolis evicted three encampments of unhoused people, leaving over 100 people displaced without tents and blankets as a cold front swept the region. SWAT teams forced residents of the Near North, Van White, and Cedar-Franklin…
Minneapolis, MN – The Michels Corporation, headed by Trump-endorsed Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels, has contracts with the City of Minneapolis and an exclusive contract with CenterPoint Energy to service gas lines in Minneapolis, which raises concerns for residents.
In 2015, Minneapolis resident DeCourcy Squire…
Minneapolis, MN – Minneapolis Police evicted nearly 100 residents from the empty lot turned encampment off 29th Street and 14th Avenue on July 20, 2022. Some residents were woken up by police pointing guns at them while yelling that they’re “trespassed” and they must leave…
Saint Paul, MN – Former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison on Thursday, July 7, 2022, by U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson. Chauvin, who had pleaded guilty to federal civil rights violations in December 2021, has been incarcerated…
Minneapolis, MN – Two years ago today, Minneapolis Police killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old father of five, over a suspected counterfeit twenty-dollar bill. Community-recorded video of his killing went viral and culminated into what was a historic uprising that saw the besiegement of the Minneapolis…
Minneapolis, MN – A ‘Boogaloo Bois’ member interview during 2020 unrest in Minneapolis triggered a wave of intra-agency information sharing which ultimately connected to a federal investigation and indictments. Documents obtained by Unicorn Riot, including emails from the Minneapolis Police (MPD) sent to the FBI,…
Minneapolis, MN – Nearly a year and a half has passed since the largest mass arrest in Minnesota history and many are still facing petty charges. On November 4, 2020, a massive police operation arrested at least 646 people on Interstate 94 during a post-election-day…
Minneapolis, MN – Two months after Minneapolis Police officer Mark Hanneman killed Amir Locke, 22, while executing a no-knock warrant, prosecutors say they won’t be charging Hanneman with a crime. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison released a 44-page joint…
Minneapolis, MN – Two months have now passed since the Minneapolis Police killed 22-year-old Amir Locke while serving a contentious no-knock warrant. To commemorate the one-month anniversary of Locke’s death, dozens participated in an autonomous march in South Minneapolis outside the 5th Precinct of the…
Minneapolis, MN – An autonomous protest for Amir Locke marched to the Minneapolis Police Department’s 5th Precinct and through the Uptown district, barricading the streets and leaving an array of anti-police messages painted in graffiti. The march on Friday night, February 11, featured around 100…
Minneapolis, MN – Nearly a week after a Minneapolis Police pre-dawn raid killed Amir Locke, hundreds marched in protest to the apartment building he was fatally shot in. The Tuesday night march circled from the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis to Bolero Flats…
Minneapolis, MN – Despite below freezing temperatures, community disdain over the killing of Amir Locke on February 2 has been widely shown to the authorities in a variety of ways in the days following.
Graffiti referencing Locke has been sprayed across the city landscape, including…
Minneapolis, MN – Several of the Minneapolis Police SWAT officers involved in the February 2 early morning killing of Amir Locke have violent and checkered pasts.
Officer Mark Hanneman, the shooter who killed Locke, had previously given illicit drugs to protesters in 2012; two officers…
Minneapolis, MN – Mark Hanneman, the Minneapolis Police officer who killed Amir Locke while executing a pre-dawn no-knock warrant, was heavily involved in giving illicit drugs to unhoused people and Occupy Wall Street protesters in 2012. At the time, Hanneman was an officer in the…
Minneapolis, MN – The City of Minneapolis released body camera footage from the pre-dawn no-knock warrant that ended with Minneapolis Police Officer Mark Hanneman killing Amir Locke. Video shows police entering the apartment unannounced with a key, then yelling “police search warrant” while walking down…
Minneapolis, MN – A SWAT officer from the Minneapolis Police Department killed a man after busting into a downtown Minneapolis apartment at 7 a.m. on February 2. The victim has been identified by the community as Amir Locke. He’s become the third Black man killed…
Minneapolis, MN – Unicorn Riot has obtained documents used to train Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) staff on political extremism. The training presentation is entitled “Political Extremists / Anarchists, a brief summary of groups that border the line between protest and domestic terrorism.” The MPD documents…
Minneapolis, MN – Five years after the mysterious death of Elisa Gomez, her family has lost faith in the Minneapolis Police (MPD) and are calling for a new investigation. Gomez was 47 years old when she was found dead just hours after being married to…
