Come over here and watch the R***ville "SWAT" team practicing. It will terrify you. It'll be far over the "personal comfort line" of anyone familiar with the proper use of force.

True. That said, we don't know for a fact that the SWAT doorkickers did that during their most recent botched raid. Granted, one of the homeowners did report that the sound of gunshots was one of the things that alerted her to the home invasion; granted, there's been no outside investigation at all, much less by a credible agency, that would clear them; certainly, much of the reporting from the MPD has turned out to be less than accurate . . .

. . . but she could have been mistaken.

[Orthogonally: quite possibly, there's no actual investigation going on. MPD has had the habit, in the past, of not investigating Bad Cop stuff when they have the excuse of pending, or possibly pending, litigation, as there certainly is for the botched raid on the Khangs. It's a way of avoiding the awkward problem of "discovery," as in "the plaintiff might be able to discover how bad we screwed up this time."]

Yes. This is not New Orleans (where cops* have "moonlighted" as drug gang enforcers).



*True. They got caught by the FBI and convicted, though.

Was it that SWAT team, or another, where one of its members managed to stitch himself through the foot during practice at OGC a few years ago? (There's so many of them hereabouts that it's hard to tell the players without a scorecard.)

MPD SWAT jibes aside, I'm incredulous as to why there's "suspicion" that they intended to hit another home. Certainly, it's a worthy hypothesis to followup on. But it seems just as likely that they were made as an easy target: off guard after a late night of celebration, one of the larger houses on the block (2 parcels, see HennCo prop info website), close to quick retreat on Parkview, simple as that.

I think the police say these things to keep the sheeple from being as afraid.

At least they're allowing this one to be considered 'random'.

Well, as best as we can tell from Chief "there's no street crime in Robbinsdale" Shellum we are to be on the lookout for Laurel and Hardy and you only have to worry if you live on York Ave N.

At least he didn't accuse the victim of being "probably just at the wrong place at the wrong time" like he did with Opat who was attacked at home.




Well, I guess Robbinsdale is experiencing a 300% increase in crime.

I am not sure where the police get this wrong house business either but maybe there is something that they are not telling us. It could just as easily be a crime of opportunity. The thugs see these folks enter the house at 2:30 AM and go after them.

“Tim Schwartz, 53, who lives down the street, said that a neighbor lady was shaken by the shooting and that she planned to start locking her doors.”We have to be on guard," he added. "I sure hope this isn't a sign of more to come."

This lady “plans” to start locking her doors. Good grief they don’t even take this basic precaution. Sometimes people just amaze me. That and the fact that they just opened the door to a knock at 2:30 in the morning. Maybe I am too old but there is no way I open a door to a knock at that hour without knowing exactly who is outside.



Fatal robbery: Wrong house?
Robbinsdale police are looking into whether a robbery at the wrong house led to the slaying of Jamis Marks, 28, who had returned home with his wife and friends from a New Year's Eve celebration.

By JIM ADAMS, Star Tribune

Last update: January 2, 2008 - 11:38 PM

Robbinsdale police said Wednesday that they are looking into whether a robbery at the wrong house led to the slaying of a man who had returned home with his wife and friends from a New Year's Eve celebration.

"We see no connection between the victims and the suspects," said Robbinsdale Chief Wayne Shellum.

Police warned residents in the normally quiet neighborhood to be extra vigilant after Jamis Marks, 28, was shot to death.

"It was a shock to the neighborhood and the whole city," Shellum said, adding that he hadn't seen such a crime in his 32 years of police work. Police are investigating the possibility that the robbers hit the wrong house, he said.

Shellum said the Markses had no criminal history.

Tim Schwartz, 53, who lives down the street, said that a neighbor lady was shaken by the shooting and that she planned to start locking her doors. "We have to be on guard," he added. "I sure hope this isn't a sign of more to come."

After a New Year's Eve dinner with another couple, Jamis Marks and his wife, Heather, 29, and their friends returned to the Marks' Robbinsdale home about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday when they heard a knock at the door. They opened it and two armed men forced their way inside the rambler, which is a block from Theodore Wirth Parkway.

Within minutes, the robbers' threats and demands for valuables spurred Jamis Marks to grab for one of the gunmen's weapons. A struggle ensued, and Marks was shot several times. The two men collected wallets, jewelry and cell phones and fled as the victims locked deadbolts behind them.

Heather Marks, who also had been assaulted, called 911 for help. But before police arrived, the robbers apparently returned and tried unsuccessfully to kick in the door before fleeing again, Shellum said.

The burglars may have hit the wrong house, the chief said, citing some information the victims said they overheard. Their home, in the 2700 block of York Avenue N., is few blocks south of North Memorial Medical Center, not far from the north Minneapolis and Golden Valley borders.

Schwartz said it was "a senseless thing, especially a young couple like that."

Neighbors said the Markses were a pleasant couple who moved in about a year ago and were excited about fixing up their home in a neighborhood with many young families. Jamis Marks' family members couldn't be reached Wednesday.

Jamis Marks, a real estate agent, died from multiple gunshot wounds, the Hennepin County medical examiner ruled Wednesday. He was pronounced dead at North Memorial, where his wife and the other couple were treated and released, Shellum said.

Police, with help from Hennepin County sheriff's deputies, were going door to door in the neighborhood Wednesday night looking for clues, Shellum said. He said two unarmed men assaulted and robbed a man of his wallet Dec. 26 in an alley about a block from the couple's home.

In addition, Schwartz said two neighborhood women were robbed last month, one while shoveling her walk, the other after getting off the bus at nearby West Broadway. He said that there are few street lights in the area and that he was concerned about his two daughters.

Shellum asked residents to call police if they see suspicious people or vehicles and warned them not to open doors to people they don't know. "I'd be extra vigilant," he said.

He noted that the descriptions of the two suspects are similar to those of two men who attacked Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat in his driveway in November. While declining to disclose some details for investigative reasons, police said that both suspects were in their early 20s and that both cases involved one suspect who was considerably heavier than the other.

Opat, who lives in the 4500 block of York Avenue N., broke away and ran, but the men who attacked him stole his wallet, Jeep and cell phone.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call police at 763-531-1220.

The city's last homicide was in July 2002 when a 17-year-old man was stabbed to death in his home by Robert L. Scott, 19, who lived a few blocks away. Scott pleaded to second-degree murder.

Just reading between the lines, it would seem that there is less of a threat to the public if the criminals were specifically targeting someone but made a mistake (wrong house) rather than having a completely random incident.

In my mind, Shellum is sugar-coating the incident just like how RT talks about all the crime in MPLS being the result of living a high-risk lifestyle. You know, like the Hennepin County commissioner getting jacked-up with a shotgun at his home in Robbinsdale and Shellum stating, "...wrong place, wrong time." - It's all a bunch of bullshit.



Yeah; and all that stands between you and two armed scumbags is a fifteen-dollar deadbolt and a half-inch of pine holding the door closed.

Great days....

http://www.startribune.com/local/west/13021566.html

WTF? Now there have been a few robberies in the area? When are we ever going to get a straight story out of the chief? I'm apoplectic here.

http://wcco.com/local/robbinsdale.home. ... 22769.html



And the parts that get to me:






And the stupid question that is answered 1 sentence later.





He gave his life to protect his wife.

A straight story out of Chief Shellum? (I'm sure that would be a nice thing; me, I'm hoping for a hot date with Jessica Alba. No real chance of that, either, but . . . )

I wonder what Felicia would say about that?

Either way I want to see her face when you ask, and yours immediately after he reaction.

I would pay to see that!

Remember crime only happens to bad people... wait one minute Opat is a "good guy' so how can that be!

You know ... when they don't have the suspects in custody how do they know that there is no connection between the perps and the victims? Or how would they know that they 'invaded the wrong house'?

They don't know who did it, therefore they don't know anything except that a family was killed in Robbinsdale. And it's sickening how we are constantly reassured that stuff like this doesn't happen and innocent people are never targeted as crime victims. What a propaganda machine we have going here.

"There are no Americans in Iraq."
-Iraqi Information Minister