Police in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, are looking for the shooter who injured a man and a teenage boy Saturday night inside a restaurant.
Officers from multiple departments, including Coon Rapids and Fridley, were called to NY Gyros off Central and 46 ½ avenues around 8:45 p.m. after reports that “a male fired gunshots inside the restaurant before fleeing,” police say.
The two victims were taken to an area hospital, with both listed in stable condition.
Police say they don’t believe this was a random attack, and are asking for anyone with information to call 763-427-1212.
The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office is assisting with the investigation, police say.
Columbia Heights Public Schools are closed on Monday “due to a credible threat,” the district said.
“No students or staff should report to school today,” Columbia Heights Public Schools wrote on social media.
The district said the closure was “out of an abundance of caution.” It gave no information about the nature of the threat. WCCO has reached out to the Columbia Heights Police Department for more information.
The district includes five schools and has about 3,400 students, according to its website.
Early Thursday morning, a neighbor came outside to commotion on her street in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. She began to record after spotting an ICE agent holding a woman by the arm, as she pleaded to be allowed to go back inside so she could take care of her young children.
That woman asked WCCO to only refer to her as “Jessica” as she described an encounter that ended with her father detained and taken away by ICE. She said that she was “shocked” when ICE approached her, telling her that she was under arrest, as she came outside to warm up her car.
“I told them, ‘I haven’t done anything. Why are you taking me?’” Jessica said. “The ICE agent grabbed me very forcefully. They told me to calm down, and that’s when they stopped hurting me.”
An agent keeps firm hold of her wrist and arm for at least five minutes, based on the video recorded by Jessica’s neighbor. That agent at one point threatens the person recording, telling her, “I need you to step back or you’re going to get arrested.”
Eventually, after an apparent conversation between two agents, Jessica is released. She explained that they ultimately decided to leave her as they didn’t have a warrant for her; however, they did detain her father, who they claimed was their original target.
Jessica said that her dad was undocumented but had no criminal record; WCCO could not find evidence of any crimes that he had committed locally by searching a state database.
The incident left her shaken. She said that she, too, is undocumented, but brought her family to Minnesota from Ecuador about five years ago in search of a better life for her daughters. Jessica said that she is the only one left to care for them after ICE detained her husband about three weeks ago.
“We left Ecuador because my country was taken over by gangs and dangerous people. They are killing innocent people — children and families. I immigrated with my brother, and after some time, I was able to bring the rest of my family to be with us,” Jessica said.
This incident was among many detainments documented on social media across the Twin Cities metro on Thursday, the same day that U.S. border czar Tom Homan spoke to the press for the first time following a shake-up in the faces leading Operation Metro Surge.
Homan pledged to have a more targeted approach in an operation that to date has included the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the violent detainment of American citizens and allegations of racial profiling.
WCCO is still waiting to hear from DHS on the detainment of Jessica’s father, as well as the detainment of two men in New Brighton on Thursday. A WCCO photojournalist was there to capture ICE agents pulling over a family in a car before asking each occupant for paperwork. ICE put two people in handcuffs, with a man who asked to stay anonymous explaining that they were his brother and his father.
“I can do nothing right now,” the man said through tears, explaining that the family had been on their way to get their car washed when they were pulled over.
Homan said that a plan is in the works to begin to reduce the number of federal agents in Minnesota without offering any concrete details. He said that this would be based on local and state officials “cooperating” with ICE, though the Minnesota Department of Corrections and local sheriffs have pushed back strongly on allegations that they are not already fulfilling their legal duties with respect to detainees with immigration violations.
In one recent case, ICE posted a video on social media accusing the Cottonwood County Sheriff’s Office of refusing to honor a detainer for an “alleged child sexual predator.” Sheriff Jason Purrington released a public statement calling the post from ICE “wholly inaccurate and not true,” explaining that the sheriff’s office had contacted ICE when someone posted bail for the defendant. Sheriff Purrington stated that in response, ICE said that they were unable to make it to Cottonwood County at the time and that they would pick him up at a later date.
It’s an image that’s struck a chord across the country. The picture of 5-year-old Liam Ramos flanked by ICE agents shortly after they arrested his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo-Arrias. The federal agency said he abandoned his son in the car outside their home. Conejo-Arrias had just picked up his son from preschool.
The pair is now being held in Texas at what ICE calls its least restrictive holding facility for families.
“My officers did everything they could to reunite him with his family. Tragically, when we approached the door of his residence, people inside refused to take him in and open the door,” said Marcus Charles, acting executive director of ICE.
School officials have a different view of what happened, claiming Ramos was being used as bait so agents could enter the home to find more family members.
ICE officials were asked Friday if Conejo-Arrias had a criminal history.
“He was in the United States illegally and I believe he had been ordered removed,” Charles said, before adding that the entire family entered the country illegally as a unit.
Mark Prokosch, the lawyer representing Conejo-Arrias’ family, said the father has no criminal record and that the family is in the process of seeking asylum. They came from Ecuador in 2024 and entered the U.S. through a port of entry using the U.S. Customs and Border Protection app.
“Every step of their immigration process has been doing what they’ve been asked to do,” said Prokosch.
Immigration experts tell WCCO that asylum seekers are legally allowed to be in the U.S., only facing deportation if they commit a crime or there’s an order to remove them.
“Typically, [ICE] have not detained asylum seekers who haven’t posed a threat to public safety,” said Jennie Murray, president and CEO of the National Immigration Forum.
CBS News has reviewed Department of Justice documents related to the Conejo-Arrias’ family that show they have an active and pending case in immigration court. The documents do not list any deportation orders.
CBS News was able to review the government information after obtaining the “alien” numbers issued to Ramos and his father. Those “A numbers” are issued by the U.S. government to immigrants, illegal and legal alike, to internally track their deportation cases or immigration applications.
Given what happened to Conejo-Arrias, Murray wants other families seeking asylum in the U.S. to prepare themselves. She suggests they come up with a plan if a family member is detained by ICE, including memorizing phone numbers for immigration lawyers.
“So that even if your phone is removed from you or your wallet, you’re able to still contact your lawyer,” said Murray.
School district officials in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, say their sense of security is shaken and their hearts shattered after four students from the district were recently taken by officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Columbia Heights Public School District says two children were taken on Tuesday, including a 17-year-old boy on his way to school. He was removed from his car and taken away.
Then in the afternoon, 5-year-old Liam Ramos was taken with his father while in their driveway after just arriving home from his preschool classroom. School officials say the child was used as bait to knock on the door and ask to be let in, letting officers see if anyone else was home.
“Why detain a 5-year-old? You can’t tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal,” said Superintendent Zena Stenvik.
The Department of Homeland Security later said that the child was not targeted by ICE, but was “abandoned” by his father. It said his father fled federal agents as they approached his vehicle, leaving the child. DHS said the father, whom they described as an illegal alien from Ecuador, was later taken into custody as other ICE officers stayed with the child.
School officials say there was an adult there who offered to take the child, but ICE did not allow that.
Federal officials said on Thursday that the boy and his father are together at an immigration processing center in Dilley, Texas.
An attorney for the Ramos family, Marc Prokosch, and the school district deny that Liam was abandoned by his father.
Prokosch said Liam and his father entered the U.S. legally from Ecuador and Liam’s father doesn’t appear to have a criminal record.
The Ecuadorian government said its consulate in Minneapolis contacted ICE as soon as it got word that Liam was being held, adding that it is “monitoring the situation of the child in order to safeguard their safety and well-being.”
Two weeks ago, a 10-year-old student in fourth grade was taken by ICE agents on her way to elementary school with her mother. During the arrest, the child called her father on the phone to tell her that ICE agents were bringing her to school. The father then came to the school to find out that both his daughter and wife had been taken.
School officials say both children and their parents are being held in a detention center in Texas. They say Liam Ramos’ family is following U.S. legal parameters and has an active asylum case with no order of deportation.
The school officials also said they don’t know what happened. They want the public to get involved as this is happening to students all across the state of Minnesota.
“We are asking to please reach out to your congressional representative to ask for an immediate and peaceful resolution to this occupation,” Stenvik said. “Please help us and other schools to again be a safe place where all belong and all succeed.”
The district also has an immigration lawyer to help figure out how to get the students back to Minnesota.
No one was hurt when someone opened fire on a residential street in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, Friday morning, authorities said, and the shooter has not been found.
Multiple agencies responded to the 500 block of Huset Parkway Northeast just before 7:45 a.m. after reports of gunfire, according to the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities found multiple spent cartridge cases, but no victims, the sheriff’s office said. Anyone with information is asked to call Anoka County dispatch at 763-427-1212.
Friday’s gunfire occurred near where a man was found shot to death in a car one week ago. Authorities did not connect the two incidents.
Authorities are investigating a death in a suburb just north of Minneapolis on Friday.
The death occurred near the 500 block of 38th Avenue Northeast in Columbia Heights, the Anoka County Sheriff's Office said. The city's police department is also investigating.
The sheriff's office gave no other details about the death.
A homicide suspect is dead after a shootout with D.C. police Thursday morning in Columbia Heights, according to the police department’s chief.
A homicide suspect is dead after a shootout with D.C. police Thursday morning in Columbia Heights, according to the police department’s chief.
He was being sought for first-degree murder in the death of 33-year-old Maurisha Singletary of Northeast, who was found dead Sunday night inside a home on the 4000 block of Minnesota Avenue NE, near Benning Road.
D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith said a joint task force involving D.C. police, U.S. Marshals and others had an arrest warrant for the suspect, who has not been publicly identified.
Member of the task force went to the suspect’s apartment in 1400 block of Girard Street Thursday morning.
“This morning, an exchange of gunfire occurred between the suspect and the members of the task force,” Smith said at a news conference. “The suspect was struck multiple times.”
He died at the scene, Smith said.
Smith said nobody on the task force side was hurt.
The suspect’s firearm was recovered inside the apartment, she said.
Smith said the investigation was still preliminary and “it’s still fluid right now.”
The case remains under investigation.
Below is a map of where the shooting took place.
(Courtesy Google Maps)
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A gas explosion in a D.C. apartment building left a woman seriously injured Friday morning.
Fire crews observing the D.C. apartment building that had a gas explosion on Sept. 20, 2024.
(Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS)
Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS
Items were taken out of the apartment building following the gas explosion.
(Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS)
Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS
Fire crews at a news conference after the gas explosion in a Northwest D.C. apartment on Sept. 20, 2024.
(Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS)
Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS
A gas explosion in a D.C. apartment building left a woman seriously injured Friday morning.
Around 9:30 a.m., D.C. firefighters responded to the third floor of a four-story apartment building near the intersection of Columbia Road and Harvard Court in the Columbia Heights section in Northwest after reports of a gas explosion.
A woman inside the apartment was seriously injured and had to be hospitalized, authorities said.
The building was evacuated and all gas lines were secured.
Later Friday, officials said investigators had determined the blast was an accidental gas explosion.
Below is a map of the area where the gas explosion took place:
(Courtesy Google Maps)
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COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. — Minnesota is home to more than half a million immigrants.
Census data shows most of them came here from Mexico and Somalia. More recently though, we’re seeing hundreds of people from Ecuador. Many of them are kids making their way through our schools.
In Columbia Heights, English learners now make up 44% of their student population. That’s an 8% jump from last school year.
Eight-year-old Henry from Ecuador is eager to learn, but learning in a language that’s not his own is tough.
“It’s difficult to speak English for me,” he said.
Henry moved to the U.S. with his mom and brother. He started at Valley View Elementary School this year.
Patrick Schulz is one of give English learner teachers serving the entire school.
“I’ve talked to many parents and most of the reasons people are coming is because they want a better life for their children and they work really hard to make that happen,” Schulz said.
When families arrive, the district screens the students to properly place them.
“We have some families that have spent six months to come here,” said Leueen Saavedra, Placement Center Cultural Liaison. “It’s not just the academic piece, it’s the social and emotional piece.”
It’s a big change for not only the students but parents too.
“We have something we provide called ‘classes para padres,'” Saavedra said.
During the six weeks of classes, parents learn financial literacy, how to create a healthy lifestyle and tools to help their children succeed.
“A lot of it is just learning the education system,” said Kevin Centeno, Valley View Elementary Home School Liaison.
Many also lack medical and dental care, so twice a year, the district provides free dental exams and basic cleanings through a partnership with “Ready Set Smile.”
WCCO
They also have a clothing and food shelf available for families.
“My ultimate goal is making sure every family is taken care of,” Centeno said.
Centeno says they rely heavily on donations, grants and community partners.
“Finding resources that are free or low cost for our families is a big struggle,” Centeno said.
“As a public school, we are open to receive all students who come. But the reality is when we serve English language learners, the state doesn’t always provide all the funds because we’re operating at a deficit,” Executive Director of Educational Services Bondo Nyembwe said when asked if the district is equipped to handle the influx of students.
Nyembwe says if they had the funds, they would hire more English learner teachers. They only have 23 full-time.
Despite funding strains, in 2023, 82.5% of English learner students graduated from the Columbia Heights School District — nearly 20% more than the state’s average.
“It’s great. For me, it’s the reason I do this job, and it’s my favorite part of my job, getting to meet kids from all over the world and sort of be the bridge between home and school for them,” Schulz said.
Henry isn’t quite ready for graduation, but he is finding his way in this new place.
Kirsten Mitchell joined the WCCO team as a reporter in November of 2021. A Saint Paul native, Kirsten is proud to tell stories in her home state. She graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Go Gophs!) and interned at WCCO during her time there.
The fire occurred at Pauly Ray’s Sports Barbershop on Nov. 29, 2023.
According to the criminal complaint, surveillance video showed Dennis Manning, 55, using a lighter to ignite a cloth on top of some video games inside the shop just before 6:30 p.m. Over an hour later, a deputy saw Manning near the scene. Authorities arrested Manning and found a red lighter on him.
Manning first denied starting the fire, court documents say. Eventually, Manning told authorities he “lit a string on a cloth,” but still said he “did not start the fire.” Investigators asked Manning why he lit the string, and he allegedly said he was “exhausted” and wanted to get rid of the string quickly.
Manning also allegedly told investigators he and the owner of the shop planned to move it to Columbia Heights.
The owner told authorities he had known Manning for eight years and he had previously worked in Manning’s Columbia Heights barbershop, which recently closed. The owner said Manning repeatedly asked about moving Pauly Ray’s to Columbia Heights, but the owner had no intention of doing so.
WCCO profiled Manning shortly before the fire, when his landlord notified him he had 45 days to vacate the space occupied by Sportsmen’s Barbers, Manning’s shop.
Charges of first- and second-degree arson against Manning were dropped as part of a plea deal. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 7.
NOTE: The video above originally aired on Dec. 2, 2023.
