A community group is calling for Target to apologize and for St. Paul police to investigate the making of a false report after two young men were accused of having a gun at the retailer’s Midway store, leading officers to draw their guns and handcuff them.
Police said they found no weapons on the men and they were released.
“These young brothers clearly went through a traumatic situation,” said Nasiy Nasir X, national president of the Lion of Judah Armed Forces and national minister of information of the New Black Panther Nation, at a press conference outside the Midway Target on Tuesday.
Nasir said the “falsified” information provided to police could have led to the young men being shot by police.
Police: Staff made report about gun
On Friday, Terrence Gleason, 19, and Ronald Trice, 20, said they were passing out information about the auto detailing business they work for.
A St. Paul officer who was working contracted overtime at the Target on University Avenue was notified around noon about two people putting flyers on vehicles, according to Alyssa Arcand, a police spokeswoman. The business requested the two men leave. The officer asked them to do so, which they did.
“The officer was then told by business security that security staff had observed behavior that led them to believe one of the men was in possession of a firearm,” Arcand said in a statement. “The staff also told officers about statements they heard the men say.”
One of the young men was videotaping on his cellphone and, after the officer initially drove away, he videoed the other man lifting up his sweatshirt to show the business logo on his shirt underneath, which was to say “we’re just here at work,” Nasir said.
After the men left the Target parking lot, police stopped them in another parking lot along University Avenue.
Nasir said they’re demanding that the employee or employees who made the report about the gun be terminated and they also want to meet with the St. Paul Police Department about how false reports should be addressed.
“Why didn’t the St. Paul Police Department do a full, thorough investigation and why didn’t they look at the cameras … before they (approached) … these young brothers with their guns drawn?” Nasir asked. He also questioned how police would approach a person who had a permit to carry a gun, if they received a falsified police report.
In the department’s statement, Arcand said: “Because the information provided by security staff was believed to be true, officers had a responsibility to respond at the time.”
A Target spokesman declined to comment Tuesday.
Moms want safety for their sons
Trice said he thought he was going to die during the encounter with police. “I’ve been thinking about that all the time.”
“And this man has a child,” Gleason said of Trice, whose 6-month-old daughter was also at the press conference with him.
Gleason’s first cousin was Philando Castile, who was fatally shot in Falcon Heights by a St. Anthony police officer in 2016.
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“I don’t want my son to feel like he’s not safe here,” said Gleason’s mother, Nichole Castile. “We’ve been through this before in our lifetime feeling that way.”
Trice’s mother, Felicia Smith, said she was born and raised in St. Paul and has lived in the same house for 27 years.
“For my kids in my neighborhood to be targeted all the time when this is our Target,” she said. “… Target needs to be held accountable just as much as St. Paul police need to be held accountable.”
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