Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry announced Tuesday that he will not run for a third term.

Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry (Courtesy of Dan Starry)

The position will be up for election in November 2026. Starry said he made the announcement now to “give people plenty of time to think about if they want to get in the race.”

As of Starry’s announcement, one person had filed a campaign finance report indicating he’s running for Washington County sheriff: Jeremy Bolen, who’s worked for the Ramsey County sheriff’s office for 21 years, has a website saying he’ll be officially launching his campaign at a June 20 event.

Starry has been serving as sheriff since he was appointed in 2017 when then-Sheriff Bill Hutton retired. He was elected sheriff in November 2018.

After Starry’s term ends in January 2027, he plans on spending time with his wife, children and grandchildren, according to the announcement.

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Two unidentified campers were found dead Sunday on Isle Royale National Park.

Park rangers received two reports at approximately 4 p.m. Sunday of two people dead at a backcountry campground on the Lake Superior island about 15 miles east of Grand Portage, Minn., the Michigan park said in a news release Tuesday morning.

Two rangers hiked 11 miles overnight, arriving Monday morning at the campground, where they confirmed the two people were dead.

The causes of death were unknown, the news release said.

Additional ground and aviation resources responded Monday. The deaths are under investigation.

Isle Royale National Park consists of Isle Royale and approximately 400 adjacent islands. It is accessible by ferry, floatplane and boat.

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Former state Sen. Justin Eichorn argues in a new court filing that the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Minnesota is singling him out for prosecution for attempted sexual solicitation of a minor.

Investigators allege that in March, Eichorn exchanged explicit messages with an undercover officer posing as a 17-year-old girl. The Grand Rapids Republican, 41, pleaded not guilty.

Eichorn was among 14 men arrested in a sting operation in Bloomington. But so far, only he and another defendant have been charged federally. They face 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentences if convicted. By contrast, the equivalent state statute, with which they were charged previously in Hennepin County, carries a five-year maximum term.

SMALL FILE — MAX. WIDTH FOR PRINT: 2.2 INCHES — March 20, 2025 courtesy photo of Justin David Eichorn. Eichorn, a former Minnesota state senator from Grand Rapids, was arrested on suspicion of soliciting a minor for sex in Bloomington on Monday, March 17, 2025. Eichorn and 13 other suspects were arrested this month in an undercover sex sting operation in which the suspects believed they were communicating with a 17-year-old girl. Eichorn resigned under fire Thursday, March 20, stepping down before the Senate could vote on whether to expel him. Eichorn was initially arrested on a state charge, but the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office has taken up the case. Eichorn appeared in federal court in St. Paul Thursday afternoon on a federal charge of coercion and enticement of a minor. (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)

Hennepin County prosecutors dismissed their complaint against Eichorn on March 19, the same day they filed the charges, when the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed its own complaint.

Defense attorneys Charles Hawkins and Arthur Waldon argue that Eichorn is being targeted because he was a public official, but they’re not accusing federal prosecutors of partisan bias.

“The only difference between the state and federal prosecutions is the potential punishment,” the defense attorneys write.

They add that federal prosecutors are “attempting to regurgitate the same factual allegations alleged in state court in an indictment to vindictively retaliate against Mr. Eichorn simply because he is a public office holder and exercised his first amendment right to political association and hold office.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has yet to submit a response to Eichorn’s motion to dismiss the indictment, which was filed Friday.

Hawkins and Waldon note in their motion that the only other person to face federal charges related to the sting, Marawan Adel Tawleeleh, has a prior sexual assault conviction. Minnesota court records show that Taweeleh, 32, pleaded guilty in 2021 to assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

Hawkins and Waldon argue that because Eichorn has no criminal history, he would likely face only probation if convicted in state court.

They point to the case of Forest Leandrew McElroy, who was arrested in the same sting operation. McElroy, 46, pleaded guilty in May to a child solicitation charge and cocaine possession.

When he’s sentenced in July, McElroy, of Burnsville, faces three years of probation and a maximum of 90 days in jail as part of a plea agreement.

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A Blaine man charged with aiding an offender to avoid arrest in Friday’s fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy outside Northtown Mall was allegedly involved in a February shooting death in Columbia Heights, according to court records.

Sudais Abdi Omar, of Brooklyn Park, was shot in the chest Friday in the mall’s Best Buy parking lot and pronounced dead at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids.

Ayub Abdullahi Mohamed (Courtesy of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office)

Ayub Abdullahi Mohamed, 20, was one of three suspects who were seen running from the shooting and into the mall. He was arrested at SkyZone Trampoline Park and had a gun magazine in his sock, the criminal complaint says.

The two other suspects are ages 14 and 15, the complaint says. They have not been arrested, and the investigation remains ongoing, the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday afternoon.

Mohamed remained at the Anoka County Jail on Tuesday in lieu of $100,000. A message left for his attorney for comment on the charge has not been returned.

In March, Mohamed was charged with aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter for allegedly bringing a rifle into a car on Feb. 28 in Columbia Heights. A 16-year-old boy handled the rifle, not knowing a bullet was in the chamber, when it fired and killed the driver, Ibrahim Faisal Dabarani, 20, of Minneapolis, according to the complaint against Mohamed. The teen also faces the same manslaughter charge, and a hearing to certify him as an adult is set for July 17.

According to Tuesday’s complaint, Blaine officers were called to the Best Buy parking lot about 5:15 p.m. on a report of someone who’d been shot. Once there, they were told that several people involved fled the area.

Omar was found in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to the chest. Casings were found nearby.

The 911 caller, a Best Buy employee, said he saw three male suspects run from the shooting scene and into the mall, then out the door toward Sky Zone. Witnesses gave the suspects’ descriptions and officers located Mohamed in a Sky Zone bathroom.

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In an interview with investigators, Mohamed said he was in a car with Omar and a teen identified in the complaint as Suspect #1. Mohamed said they went to Best Buy to pick up Suspect #2, who had been waiting outside the store.

When they arrived, Mohamed said, he went inside Best Buy to use the bathroom. As he was walking back to the car, he saw the teens running into the store and screaming that Omar had been shot.

Mohamed said he went outside and saw Omar lying on the ground. The two teens were pacing around the parking lot before Suspect #2 handed him the gun magazine, Mohamed said, adding he put it into the pocket of his throbe.

Mohamed told investigators that once he got into Sky Zone, he called the teens through Snapchat, but they declined his calls.