A teen was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday for being an accomplice after the fact in the 2022 murder of Otis Elder in St. Paul, a killing that prompted Minneapolis police to carry out a “no-knock” search warrant in which Amir Locke was fatally shot by an officer.

Feysal Jama Ali, 18, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty to the added charge in December in connection with the killing of Elder, a 38-year-old who was shot during a suspected marijuana robbery or attempted robbery on Jan. 10, 2022. Elder, a father of two sons, died a half-hour later at Regions Hospital of a gunshot wound to the back.

Feysal Jama Ali (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

In exchange for the plea, two counts of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and two other charges in the case were dismissed and he also was given a concurrent three-year prison term for a second-degree assault conviction stemming from a carjacking in South Minneapolis in November 2021.

Also part of the plea deal were the lengths of the two prison terms. Ali received credit for the two years and six days he already served in custody.

Ali confirmed that his cousin, Mekhi Camden Speed, then 17, shot Elder as he sat in his Chevrolet Tahoe in the 500 block of North Prior Avenue, between University Avenue and Interstate 94. Ali, who was 16, also gave an account of his actions after the murder, including spraying a fire extinguisher inside in a stolen getaway car in an attempt to conceal evidence.

In July, Speed was sentenced to 16 years and three months in prison after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder while committing an armed robbery. Speed said at his plea hearing that he went to the location to buy marijuana from Elder and that the plan changed to taking it.

Mekhi Camden Speed (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Speed lived in the apartment building in downtown Minneapolis where police served search warrants on Feb. 2, 2022. Locke, 22, was not named in the search warrants and was staying on a couch in Speed’s brother’s girlfriend’s apartment when police carried out a no-knock warrant and a Minneapolis officer shot him.

Speed lived in a different unit with his mother, but had access to the other apartment, according to the criminal complaint.

Minneapolis police requested a no-knock warrant to apprehend Speed for the officers’ safety and preservation of evidence. The request for the warrant demonstrated that Speed had a history of violence and that Elder was killed with a .223-caliber firearm, which could pierce body armor.

Police body camera video showed that when police entered the apartment, announcing their presence, Locke, who was not a suspect, was stirred from the couch and emerged from under a blanket with a handgun that his family said he legally owned.

Prosecutors did not charge the officer, saying body camera video showed Locke pointing a gun, but his family has said the footage suggests he was startled awake.

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A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used, but company founder and prominent election denier Mike Lindell said that it’s just a formality because the landlord wants to take the property back.

Lindell denied in an interview with the Associated Press that the eviction was another sign of his money woes. He said his financial picture is actually improving after a credit crunch last year disrupted cash flow at MyPillow after the company lost one of its major advertising platforms and was dropped by several national retailers.

“We’re fine,” he said.

Lindell faced a setback last month when a federal judge affirmed a $5 million arbitration award in favor of a software engineer who challenged data that Lindell said proves China interfered in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and tipped the outcome to Joe Biden. Lindell acknowledged in January that Fox News stopped running MyPillow commercials amid a billing dispute.

Lindell confirmed Wednesday that MyPillow owes around $217,000 to Delaware-based First Industrial LP for rent for the facility in Shakopee. He said MyPillow no longer needed the space and removed its remaining property from the warehouse last June before subleasing the space to another company through December.

Another company was going to start subleasing the space in January but backed out and “left us all stranded,” he said. MyPillow offered to find another tenant, he said, but the landlord just wanted to take back control of the warehouse instead. The $217,000 is for unpaid rent for January and February, he said. He also said MyPillow continues to lease space elsewhere.

The Star Tribune reported that a Scott County judge held a hearing Tuesday on the warehouse owner’s request to formally evict MyPillow, which did not contest the landlord’s request.

“MyPillow has more or less vacated but we’d like to do this by the book,” attorney Sara Filo, representing First Industrial, said during the hearing, the newspaper reported. “At this point there’s a representation that no further payment is going to be made under this lease, so we’d like to go ahead with finding a new tenant.”

Judge Caroline Lennon filed the eviction order Wednesday.

Lindell, who continues to propagate former President Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him, in part by rigged voting machine systems, still faces defamation lawsuits by two voting machine companies. Lawyers who were originally defending him in those cases quit over unpaid bills.

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DULUTH, Minn. — Days after the Wall Street Journal published Minnesota billionaire Kathy Cargill’s disparaging remarks about Duluth and its mayor, a couple of community members are taking action.

And it’s a food fight, of sorts.

They launched the Duluth Cheerio Challenge, a call to ramp up donations to local food shelves and human services agencies in the final days of Minnesota FoodShare Month.

Chum, the Damiano Center, Union Gospel Mission and the Salvation Army are accepting dollar and food donations online and at their sites. Also, an additional drop-off is available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Friday at the Duluth Labor Temple, 2002 London Road.

Cereal is one of the most requested nonperishable items at Chum. It’s also expensive and difficult to regularly obtain in large quantities, so the Cheerio Challenge comes at the perfect time, said Scott Van Daele, director of distributive services.

In Saturday’s Wall Street Journal article, Cargill described Duluth as a “small-minded community,” and she said Mayor Roger Reinert had “peed in his Cheerios” by requesting to discuss plans for several properties her entity, North Shore LS LLC, purchased and demolished in the Park Point neighborhood.

Community members responded on social media with memes. Comment threads stretched far and wide. Reinert eventually posted on X, formerly Twitter, “For the record … I’m more of a pancakes guy. #IYKYK,” with a picture of a short stack and bacon, as he prepared to ride along in a snowplow during a late-winter storm.

Duluth resident Chad McKenna published a blog post, “We take our Cheerios with almond milk.” Friends contacted McKenna, he believes, because of the blog post and because he has 16 years of experience in labor movement organizing. And he hit the ground running.

On Monday, McKenna created a Duluth Cheerio Challenge graphic, video and Facebook page. By Tuesday, the page had more than 700 members, and the video had been viewed more than 7,000 times.

McKenna said he and other organizers are amazed at how quickly the effort gained traction.

“This effort is not meant to be snarky. We’re being sort of playful with what happened,” said McKenna, an event organizer. “This shows Duluth is a big, small town in a lot of ways.”

Duluth’s never-ending can-do spirit and enthusiasm to help a neighbor in need impresses Van Daele, who said he continues to be proud to be part of this community.

Deb McLaughlin, a Park Point resident, said the Duluth Cheerio Challenge is turning something “negative and rude” into a really sweet and positive effort. McLaughlin and her husband are longtime Chum donors, and rather than sending cereal, she said they intended to support with an online contribution.

Asked if she’d heard the Cheerios phrase before, McLaughlin called it “the oddest thing” and said she looked it up in an online dictionary of idioms.

“If I remember correctly, it’s a phrase used to refer to when somebody’s already having a bad day, and it gets worse,” she said.

Whatever is the opposite of peeing in Cheerios, it’s clear Duluth’s doing that.

Chum suggests donations

Financial donations can go further than food. For every dollar donated, Chum can get $3 worth of sustenance through Second Harvest, wholesalers and distributors, Van Daele said. A $5 donation is four meals, and $10 feeds a child for one weekend during the summer.

If donors aren’t able to purchase cereal, consider these nonperishable pantry staples:

Canned fruit
Canned vegetables
Canned soups
Canned tuna
Peanut butter
Dry pasta
Canned spaghetti sauce
Macaroni and cheese

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