A Minneapolis police chase erupted in gunfire Friday afternoon, leaving the suspect dead, two officers wounded and authorities investigating the details of the shooting and how a police vehicle speeding to the scene collided with a motorcycle, killing the rider and injuring his passenger.

The male officers were listed in stable condition with gunshot wounds at Hennepin County Medical Center, police said.

The man, who family members identified as Terrence Terrell Franklin, 22, of Minneapolis, was shot after police chased him to a home at 2717 Bryant Av. S.

The dead motorcyclist was identified by friends as Ivan Romero Oliveras, 24, of Minneapolis. The injured passenger, Jocelin Torrejon, was listed in satisfactory condition at HCMC.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Police Chief Janeé Harteau arrived at the hospital shortly after the shooting. Harteau spoke briefly, saying that investigators were not looking for any other suspects.

“This is a very tough day for the Minneapolis Police Department,” Harteau said. “The situation was a tragic one.”

Police said the chase started after a caller reported seeing a man he suspected of burglarizing his home. When police confronted him, the man fled, almost hitting an officer. Before reaching the Bryant Avenue home, the man ran into Flanders Brothers Cycle at 2707 Lyndale Av. S.

“He said he wanted to see a bike,” said Ann VanBellinger, a cyclist who was at the shop to visit with friends.

She and some of the shop’s staff soon sensed something wasn’t right, however. Minutes passed as the man, wearing a red T-shirt, black pants and sporting dreadlocks, stood by the front door peering out the display window as if hiding from someone.

Suddenly, the man ran toward the back of the bicycle shop, which has no rear exit.

John Haugh, a mechanic who moonlights as a security guard for a downtown club, gave chase.

The man hurdled a half door as he burst into the shop’s rear service area, then ran up a short flight of stairs into a rear room used for storage. Trapped, he ran through the area and started back toward the front of the shop, blasting through a latched door.

His phone flew out of his pocket as he hurdled another half door. He stopped just long enough to collect the phone, which had broken into two pieces, before bolting out the front door. A squad car pulled up, and workers at the bicycle shop watched as the man ran across Lyndale Avenue with police close behind.

A woman who lives nearby, Cassondra Nelson, said she and her friends had just returned from shopping when they saw police converge on W. 28th Street, between Aldrich and Bryant Avenues S.
They appeared to be searching four homes across the street, going in and out of each with a police dog, she said. The police shut down a section of Bryant Avenue S. while searching for Franklin.

When they allowed people to return, homeowner James Bickal noticed a broken rear window, according to Minnesota Public Radio, where Bickal works. He notified police, who entered the house with a K-9 officer and confronted Franklin in the basement.

There Franklin struggled with the dog and additional officers were called to help.

“An intense struggle ensued and during the struggle, 2 assisting MPD officers were shot and wounded. The suspect was also shot and is deceased,” according to a release from police spokeswoman Cyndi Barrington.

She also reported that Franklin had a lengthy arrest history, but provided no details.

A KSTP-TV report cited unnamed sources as saying that during the struggle in the basement Franklin had grabbed a submachine gun strapped to the chest of one of the SWAT team members and pulled the trigger, apparently firing the bullets that hit two officers.

At a late night news conference Harteau said she didn’t know if the officers had been shot with a police weapon and called the investigation “preliminary” and “complex.”

Later, a police spokesman also said the department had no comment on the report.

In the hours after the shooting, more friends and relatives of Franklin’s gathered at the edge of the shooting scene, looking for answers. Standing as close as the police would allow, several of them said they first heard of the shooting on Facebook, then watched as Franklin’s Facebook page filled up with condolences.

“I just knew he was a good kid,” said Nicole Guise, the mother of Franklin’s three step siblings. “Every time he saw me he would hug me.”

She said Franklin had a 3-year-old son.

“He was a good person; he was not for this,” said Shenise Guise, a relative. She and other members of the family became increasingly frustrated Friday as police officers guarding the area would not allow them into the crime scene.

“I need to know!” shouted Franklin’s father, Walter, who begged police officers to let him see the body. A pair of higher ranking officers eventually appeared and took Franklin aside for a private conversation. Franklin, his head rocking back in grief, then walked away and sat down on a lawn.

On Blaisdell Avenue, the body of Oliveras, the motorcyclist, remained in the intersection with 26th Street for hours as law enforcement officers investigated the crash.

According to witnesses, Torrejon, the female passenger, was injured when the police SUV hit the back of the bike, throwing both riders off.

Enrique Martin, a witness, said police were heading west on 26th Street and the motorcycle was going south on Blaisdell Avenue.

Another witness interviewed by police, Kyndell Harkness, a Star Tribune photojournalist who witnessed the crash as she was on her way to the shooting scene, said she was passed by three police cars with lights flashing and sirens on that went through the red light at Blaisdell, where the motorcyclist had a green light.

The first police car hit the motorcycle, she said; Oliveras was not wearing a helmet and was wearing flip-flops.

The police cars stopped and officers rushed to try and help the motorcycle riders, Harkness said.

Oliveras died at the scene.

Staff writers Maya Rao contributed to this report.

Source: startribune.com

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Cheap web design and web hosting may sound attractive, but many small business owners or marketers are not aware of how “going cheap” can negatively impact their online image and marketing performance. In this article I will explain the key factors that determine the effectiveness and performance of your website.

First, in order to measure the effectiveness of your website when it comes to website design and hosting, you should know about the two types of audiences who go through your website regularly. One group is people, the second group – are search engines’ spiders. These two audiences have different expectations and they read your website differently. You will want to understand them better prior to designing your website, and choosing a web hosting service. Your careful research will save you lots of time, money, and headaches down the road. Let’s explore your audiences a bit more.

People: When people visit websites, they consciously and unconsciously observe three basic things: the website’s loading speed, its appearance, and its performance (the effectiveness of its function and communication). Because people’s attention spans are fairly short online, if your site doesn’t make a good first impression and communicate effectively within the first 60 seconds; those visitors will leave and might never come back. This will damage your business’s reputation over time.

Today people expect every business to have a website. If your website looks professional and performs well, you will gain more credibility online. People will see that you take your business seriously, which naturally implies that you take your customer service seriously as well. Having a web design company that knows website design, as well as business, can help you create a website that will communicate with your customers effectively.

With expertise in website design, internet marketing and business, your provider can custom design a professional website that is uniquely tailored to your business and your customers’ needs. This will help you to convert new visitors into customers more often.  Avoid wasting your money and time on a cheap templates website that is not fully designed to your business and needs.

Search Engines’ Spiders: To find providers similar to your business online, people often use search engines like Google.com, Bing.com, and Yahoo.com. Therefore, from the beginning you should have your website built and optimized well for search engines’ spiders, so they can effectively crawl (or scan) your website content, Meta tags, and descriptions. This is how spiders learn about your website and how they index your business under specific categories so that specific end users (searchers) will find you when they search. It is very important to find a web design company that is also knowledgeable about Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Second, there are many web hosting providers out there offering all kinds of prices; from $3/month to $150/month and more. Before you choose a cheap web hosting provider, you’ll want to find out the answers to these questions first:

    1. Why is that web hosting so cheap compared to others?
    2. How would my website perform under that host? How fast will my website load during high-traffic hours?
    3. What kind of security firewall(s) does this web host offer compared to other, more expensive ones?
    4. How fast of a response will I get from tech support if my website is hacked, or down for some reason?

As small business owners, these are important questions to consider prior to select a web hosting company. Try not to let price be the only criteria you use when choosing a web design and hosting provider, because you may get what you paid for, which may hurt your business more than help it.

For Minneapolis web design service, please call: (612) 590-8080

School administrators have declared a code yellow alert at Washburn High School for Monday in advance of Monday’s planned student walkout in support of school Athletic Director Dan Pratt.

District spokeswoman Rachel Hicks said this weekend that the alert, which normally is declared in response to a perceived security threat at a school, is being imposed as a precaution.

Students are rallying in support of Pratt, and said that he has been told he is being fired. The district disclosed last week, in answer to a Star Tribune inquiry, that it is investigating Pratt for a “private personnel matter.”

The district is not required by state law to disclose more than that unless it decides to impose discipline on him. However, the issue is said by students and others involved with Washburn athletics to involve whether proper approvals were obtained by Pratt for a scoreboard that was to be installed when the school’s athletic field was renovated.

Principal Carol Markham-Cousins told parents of the code yellow alert in a voicemail Friday in which she said that several hundred students, alumni and community members may participate in a walkout or sit-in.  She asserted that “many rumors and inaccuracies” have been posted on social media about the situation but did not respond to a Star Tribune offer made through Hicks to discuss them.  Pratt also has not responded to attempts to contact him.

Students who leave the school Monday will not be allowed to return, and students who stay but miss a class period will be considered unexcused absences, Hicks said. In both cases, they won’t be able to participate in after-school activities, the district said.  Washburn has two baseball games and a tennis match on its schedule Monday.  However, plans for both a walkout and athletics could be affected by a soggy forecast.

The district issued a statement Sunday evneing that said in part: "decisions related to Mr. Pratt’s employment with MPS have been and continue to be made by the school district, not by Washburn Principal Markham-Cousins or other school staff members. The planned demonstration in support of Mr. Pratt will not have any bearing on the outcome(s) of the private personnel matter." 

Source: startribune.com

For Minneapolis Web Design Firm, Please call: (612) 590-8080

Many web design service providers have popped up in the last five years. In some ways, this has made it tougher for people to find high-quality, experienced web designers. You’ll find many different styles, skills, prices, and abilities among web designers. In order to get a professional website developed and designed for your organization, you should seek one with a solid, proven track record to take on your project. Here are 6 things you should avoid when selecting a web design firm for your project:

1. Choosing a web designer who is still using old HTML code to build websites: Today, in order for your website show up uniformly on newer versions of internet browsers, computer operating systems, and mobile devices; your website needs to be built with the most up-to-date coding; HTML5 or newer. It would be a major pain in the neck (and wallet) to have to re-design your website after you’ve worked hard to develop a new site with a designer who uses outdated code.
2. Choosing a web designer who suggests using a lot of flash content on your site: Since Apple computers and mobile devices do not support Flash, your Flash website will not display fully when Apple users pull up your website on their devices. It is un-wise for any web designers to suggest using significant amounts of Flash on client’s websites.
3. Using a template for your website: Most of us have tried our best to come up with a unique name for our organization to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. So it makes sense to do the same, and create a unique website to establish your online web presence. It is not a wise move to choose a website template, which has been duplicated and re-sold thousands of times online, as your organization’s online identity.
4. Use your cousin’s friend, or your friend’s cousin, to design your site: I have encountered a number of clients who started out their web design project with someone they knew personally or through family. Usually the idea is that working with someone you know will save you money. This situation often ends up with a half-baked website that doesn’t meet the client’s expectations, or the project drags on for way too long. I am a big believer in the power of referrals, but you should research carefully to make sure you hire a web designer who can handle your project. Research includes viewing the designer’s work portfolio, reading their past clients’ testimonials, and reviewing their web design prices. Referrals are great, but you need to do your homework to pick out a qualified website designer.
5. Choose the cheapest web designer to design your site: If you are looking for website designers that can meet your expectations, do not let price be the only criteria in your selection process, no matter how tight your budget is. It’d be better for you to work out some kind of re-payment plan with a qualified web designer or wait until you can save up enough money to design your site. Paying money for a poorly designed and developed site will cost you more time, and money, in the long run. When a designer says that s/he will take on your project for 1/5 the price of other web design quotes from other web design companies, you should question whether that designer really knows what kind of project s/he is getting into.
6. Choose a web designer who does not have a service agreement contract in place: Quite often new clients come to me frustrated because their previous designer told them that they do not own the domain and/or the website which they had paid for a number of years ago when they hired their previous web designer to set everything up for them. When that designer built the website and registered the domain for the client in the beginning, there was no service agreement contract in place that stated that the client owns these properties. Now, when the client decides to leave, the designer claims that the client merely rented everything from the designer, and that client does not own anything. You can avoid this by always asking whether your prospective web designer has a service agreement contract in place for you, as a client. Most importantly, ask him/her if anywhere in the contract states that you own a copyright of your website design and your selected website domain name. Only when you have a copy of the signed contract in your hands should you go forward with the project.

There are other “red flags” you should watch out for when choosing a web designer, but above are 6 major and common mistakes to avoid. For more information on what makes a website a “professional grade” website, please go to http://www.proweb365.com/10-tips-professional-grade-website.

Frustration with South High School and Minneapolis police handling of an altercation there last week continues to run high among some students and parents of Somali descent.

Several parents spoke in indignant terms Tuesday about how they believed police had used excessive force while subduing the Thursday melee that involved several hundred students.

Their comments followed a news conference where school board member Hussein Samatar, called for more efforts to keep students safe in school, improvements in the cultural competence of South staff members and more support for students enrolled in rigorous classes.

On Tuesday afternoon, a police spokesman said the department hadn’t received any complaints about the incident, but later Chief Janeé Harteau said she would investigate the concerns.

“I have requested and opened an internal review of the incident,” Harteau said. “We value the strong relationships we have built with the Somali community, and I take any allegation that threatens that in anyway very seriously.”

South Principal Cecilia Sadler also spoke publicly Tuesday for the first time about the incident. She said “some fights that escalated in our lunchroom were not able to be dispersed quickly” and grew. She said Valentine Day heightened student emotions.

As for reports that ethnic tensions fueled the matter — a contention about which students disagree — Sadler said, “We’re still doing that investigation, and we’re still figuring out that who, what, when, why.”

Sadler said staff worked hard to quell matters before police were summoned. “They have a protocol that they follow, and it’s not a pleasant one and it’s not something that students should be exposed to,” she said.

Ayan Farah, parent of a South junior, said she feels like police harassed her by calling to speak with her son after she complained about his being Maced during the incident. Her son, Adnan, said he was trying to pull students involved in the fight back when he was sprayed.

Salma Muhammed, a junior, said tensions leading to the fight had been building a long time, but she was caught up in the fighting as she was eating lunch. The asthmatic student said she was struck on the chest and jaw.

Mohamed Mohamed, the father of two South students, said his sophomore daughter was beaten without cause by other girls, losing her textbooks, and that his son was Maced by police he said used excessive force.

Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. William Palmer said anyone concerned about the police response can file complaints with the department. “We look at all credible allegations seriously,” he said. “I’m unaware that anyone was complaining about the response until now.”

Source: startribune.com

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