Woman sentenced to 15 years for role in St. Paul New Year’s Eve shooting that critically injured boy, 10

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A judge sentenced a Hastings woman to more than 15 years in prison Monday for her role in a drive-by shooting that critically wounded a 10-year-old boy as he celebrated New Year’s Eve with his family in their St. Paul home.

A jury in April found Kelci Marie Meyers guilty of all three counts of aiding and abetting against her — attempted murder, first-degree assault and drive-by shooting — in connection with the boy’s shooting in the 700 block of Sherburne Avenue in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood.

Meyers, 29, testified at trial that she was driving the sport-utility vehicle and that Morris Robert Chie Ryan was leaning out of the passenger window when she heard the gunshots, according to Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein. Meyers would not say that she saw Ryan fire the gun.

Ryan, 27, of New Hope, faces the same three charges. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Kelci Marie Meyers and Morris Robert Chie Ryan (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Ramsey County District Judge Kellie Charles denied a motion from Meyers’ attorney to depart from state sentencing guidelines and gave her a prison term of 15 years and 3 months, which was the maximum she could have received under state sentencing guidelines. She received credit for 125 days already served in custody.

The boy’s mother told police she suspected that a former neighbor was behind the shooting, the charges say. The mother described the man, identified in the charges as LC, as “a neighborhood nuisance” and, although he’d moved out, “he continued to return causing trouble and threatening the residents” of her home. She had a harassment restraining order against LC, though the order hadn’t been served on him.

Meyers used to date LC’s cousin and she also lived with them on Sherburne Avenue.

At the time of the shooting, Ryan and Meyers were in a relationship, according to police.

Boy taken hospital with life-threatening injury

According to the charges, officers called to the shooting just before midnight found the boy in an upstairs bedroom with a gunshot wound to his abdomen that punctured his bladder, small intestine and bowel before exiting his buttock. He was taken to Regions Hospital “with a life-threatening injury and acute blood loss.”

The boy’s mother told police she was in the kitchen making a video to celebrate the New Year with her son and other children. Her son had been playing with Legos shortly before gunshots came through the kitchen window.

She heard a man in the alley say, “(Expletive) y’all, (expletive)” and tried to get her kids out of the kitchen, the charges say. Another child carried the boy to the upstairs bedroom.

In video surveillance from the area, an SUV could be seen circling the alley twice before the shooting and about 14 gunshots could be heard. It was the only vehicle in the alley at the time.

Investigators found video surveillance from a nearby gas station that showed the SUV entering the lot just after the shooting. Police identified Ryan as the person who exited the front passenger seat and Meyers as the person who got out from the driver’s seat, according to the charges. They purchased beverages from the gas station and used Meyers’ card to pay.

Cellphone data showed Ryan’s phone on Sherburne Avenue at the time of the shooting and then at the Lexington Parkway gas station, the charges say.

Police found seven handguns at Meyers’ home, including a Glock 9mm that testing of a shell casing recovered from Sherburne Avenue later showed fired the bullets, the charges say.

Ryan told police he didn’t “really recall what he did on New Year’s Eve.” He said he’d stayed in and watched YouTube videos at his mom’s house in New Hope. He requested a lawyer.

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Metropolitan Council wastewater treatment plant workers authorize strike on Monday

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The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49 on Monday filed an intent-to-strike notice on behalf of 176 operators at the Metropolitan Council’s nine wastewater treatment plants.

The notice comes after members overwhelmingly rejected a contract offer that union officials said would have “failed to match the compensation paid even by some small cities,” according to a news release. The notice legally triggers a 10-day cooling-off period before workers would strike. Negotiations with the Met Council will continue during that time.

“These workers kept the water flowing and the toilets flushing for the entire Twin Cities metro area during a pandemic, at great risk to themselves and their families. They never worked from home — they stayed on the job like they always do. The Met Council spends lots of taxpayer money on many things. It’s time it focused on fairly compensating critical employees who make the entire water infrastructure of the Twin Cities operate,” said Jason George, Local 40 business manager.

About 2.7 million people in 111 cities in the Twin Cities metro area rely on the wastewater treatment plants to clean the water that drains from toilets, showers, washing machines and more, the union said.

How to get a free gun lock in Ramsey County: Leaders highlight program amid concerns about suicide, domestic violence, kids and guns

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With seven cases of young people seriously injured in Ramsey County since 2021 due to unsafe or improper firearm storage in a residence, County Attorney John Choi reminded the public Monday that free gun locks are available across the county.

“A lot of … gun violence that we have in our community is preventable,” he said.

The goal is preventing accidental shootings, suicide and domestic violence, leaders in Ramsey County said at a Monday press conference about the gun locks.

One out of four women will experience domestic violence in a lifetime and, if a firearm is present, the risk of a victim experiencing serious injury or death increases by over 400 percent, said Shelley Johnson Cline, executive director of the St. Paul and Ramsey County Domestic Abuse Intervention Project.

An 8-year-old boy recently died after he was shot in Burnsville. His mother said the child’s father was aiming a gun at her and her son was trying to get the gun away when the man accidentally shot their child.

“For victims, quick access to a gun, whether it belongs to the abuse partner or not, can be a matter of life and death,” Johnson Cline said. “Stopping or suspending that access will save lives.”

For as much media attention as firearm homicides receive, suicides with firearms occur more often, pointed out Tyrone Terrill, president of the African American Leadership Council. Between 2018 and 2022, there were 1,855 Minnesotans who died from firearm suicide, which represented 46 percent of all suicide deaths, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

“We need to bring more awareness, more education,” Terrill said.

The gun lock program in Ramsey County was launched in 2016 and began as a partnership between the Ramsey County attorney’s and sheriff’s offices, and the public health department. Free cable gun locks are still available at various community centers and libraries, with a list available at bit.ly/RamseyCogunlocks.

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FACT FOCUS: Biden’s pause as he left a star-studded LA fundraiser becomes a target for opponents

posted in: Politics | 0

By MELISSA GOLDIN (Associated Press)

Video from a star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles for President Joe Biden on Saturday is circulating on social media with claims that he froze up onstage as he exited the event.

“Biden froze again last night and had to get escorted out by Obama,” reads one post on X that had received approximately 22,000 likes and 5,600 shares as of Monday. “Is this normal?”

Members of his campaign and administration say the president stopped to take in cheers and applause as he left a sit-down with former President Barack Obama and comedian Jimmy Kimmel that helped raise more than $30 million for his reelection campaign. A spokesperson for Kimmel echoed this view.

The video is the most recent in a series of clips taken at public events, some of them edited, that are being used to suggest Biden is mentally and physically unfit for office.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: Biden froze onstage during his fundraiser in Los Angeles on Saturday night and had to be led away by Obama.

THE FACTS: Biden paused amid cheers and applause as he exited the stage with his predecessor following an interview moderated by late-night host Kimmel.

Former President Donald Trump shared a video on his social media platform Truth Social that showed a grainy version of Biden stopping and looking out into the audience as he departed. “Is this really who you want to be your president?” Trump asked in the post.

Separate footage from the event provided to The Associated Press by Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer shows the president waving, pointing, clapping and giving the thumbs-up to the audience alongside Obama while Kimmel waits off to the side. Biden then stands still for about seven seconds looking out at the crowd. He starts moving again when Obama briefly takes his arm and puts his hand on his back as the pair walks offstage.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates described the moment as “the President taking in an applauding crowd for a few seconds.” Singer attributed the negative characterizations as a distraction tactic from those who “are so scared of losing to Joe Biden, they’ll make anything up to distract from the fact that their candidate for president, Donald Trump, has been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, committed financial fraud, and only cares about himself.”

In response to a question at a press briefing on Monday about videos that have been edited to make Biden appear frail or confused, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called such footage “cheap fakes video” that are “done in bad faith.” She added that they demonstrate “everything that we need to know about how desperate, how desperate Republicans are here.”

A source who helped organize, and attended, the fundraiser told the AP that there was nothing noteworthy about this moment and that Obama wanted to be “chummy” by walking offstage with Biden.

Lewis Kay, a spokesperson for Kimmel, called the claims spreading online “nonsense.”

“Attendees in the front were shouting at him, and President Biden was trying to hear them,” he wrote in an email to the AP. “It’s as simple as that.”

The fundraiser took in a record $30 million-plus, according to Biden’s campaign. George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand were among those who took the stage at the event. During their interview with Kimmel, Biden and Obama both stressed the need to defeat Trump in a race that’s expected to be exceedingly close.

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This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.