Crime watch

There was a sexual assault on Saturday, Dec. 8, at 2 a.m. near 34th and Chicago. Lieutenant Nancy Dunlap, commander of the Sex Crimes Unit, said that information leading to the arrest of Kenneth Franklin Owens came from the release of the suspect’s photos, and tips started to come in from the public almost immediately. Photographs from bus surveillance footage were released on Wednesday, Dec. 12, and by that night Sex Crimes investigators had identified their suspect in this case. The next morning officers, acting on information from the Minneapolis Police Department Sex Crimes Unit, went to an address in the 500 block of Oliver Avenue North and arrested the suspect.

Owens was booked later that morning, and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has charged him with Criminal Sexual Conduct in the First Degree, a felony.
Also on Wednesday, Dec. 12, criminal charges were filed in the November 7th homicide of Michael Hayden, age 29, of St. Paul.

That morning just before 3 a.m. officers in the Third Precinct responded to a report of the sound of gunfire in the 2100 block of 10th Avenue South. When officers arrived they found the body of an adult male in the alley between 10th and 11th Avenues. The victim had suffered apparent gunshot wounds.

The case was assigned to Minneapolis Police Department Homicide Unit investigators Sergeants Ann Kjos and Luis Porras. The sergeants learned that the suspect and the victim knew each other and were having a dispute over the alleged theft of money. Surveillance video and a witness account placed the suspect with the victim just before the homicide occurred.

As a result of the sergeants’ investigation, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Steven Williams of Chicago with Murder in the Second Degree in this case, and a warrant was issued for the defendant’s arrest. On Dec. 13 the defendant was arrested in Chicago, Ill., in connection with his warrant.

Ed Felien
edfelien@southsidepride.com
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