Makayla Burke was never allowed to shovel the sidewalk in front of Panera Bread in Vadnais Heights if Rob Deck was around.

“Rob would say, ‘You go inside. It’s cold out here,’” said Burke, the restaurant’s team manager. “I always told him not to do it because he wasn’t getting paid, but he would always do it anyway. That’s just who he was.”

Rob Deck, of Vadnais Heights, at the American Legion in North St. Paul in May 2016. Deck, 42, who was unhoused, was found dead by suicide at a self-storage facility in Vadnais Heights on June 29, 2024. (Courtesy of Heather Manske)

Deck, who was homeless, loved Panera’s cinnamon-crunch bagels, but his go-to order was a classic grilled cheese sandwich and a cup of creamy tomato soup, Burke said.

Deck, 42, used to walk around town with a shopping cart and wagon full of his possessions. In addition to spending time at Panera, he was a regular at Perkins, Holiday and Kwik Trip in Vadnais Heights.

“All of the customers loved Rob,” Burke said. “I loved Rob. He was everyone’s friend. He never caused any problems, never caused any issues with anybody. Rob was always a good soul to have around. I would see him sometimes talking with someone he’d just met, and it was like they’d known each other for years. He was just a really genuine soul. Despite his circumstances, he went out of his way to cheer people up and really listen to them and get to know them.”

On June 29, Deck was found dead by suicide at the iStorage self-storage facility in Vadnais Heights, family members said.

Friends of Deck have erected a memorial on the corner near Panera with a wooden cross, flowers, stuffed animals and handmade signs. “God Bless You Rob in Heaven,” reads one. “Rob, You are loved and missed,” says another. Someone named Aaron wrote: “RIP, Brother Rob. Wish U wouldn’t have left so soon. Rest in Paradise, Brother.”

Vadnais Heights Mayor Mike Krachmer said Deck was a beloved member of the community. “Rob was really a good citizen,” Krachmer said. “He was a community asset. He helped me to connect with other people who were experiencing homelessness. He was very helpful to people in general. He was always in our commercial areas. If he saw someone who needed help, he helped them. He picked up trash. He was not a burden.”

Deck never panhandled or bothered people, Krachmer said.

People who saw Deck would often reach out to him and try to help, Krachmer said.

“I had people who don’t even live in Vadnais Heights who would call me and see if there was any way that they could help him,” he said. “He was a warm guy. He was a nice guy. So many people supported him. There were just people who felt for him.”

Deck was a favorite at Perkins on County Road E, where he would often sweep the walk or shovel the sidewalk in exchange for a free meal, waitress Wanda Simonson said.

“He liked our cheeseburgers in particular,” Simonson said. “If we had a cheeseburger that was a mistake, we would bring it out to him, and his eyes would just light up.”

Customers would sometimes see Deck outside and then come in and order him a meal, she said. “Everybody knew him,” she said. “We all knew his name. He had a lot of connections here. We were all very saddened when we heard the news. I just wish that some intervention would have happened to get him help.”

Many residents of Vadnais Heights got to know Deck and would look forward to catching up with him at one of his regular “corners.” When Doug Loos saw last fall that the clothesline that Deck used to tie his shopping cart and wagon was fraying, Loos went to Ace Hardware and bought him a new one.

“I always enjoyed chatting with him,” Loos said. “It was always, ‘How are you, Rob?’ I would check in and see how he was doing. ‘What’s going on? Anything new?’ Just small talk. I didn’t want to get too invasive. I would offer him 5 bucks for laundry and any sundries that he might need, and he would accept that.”

Loos said he had been looking for Deck recently to give him a patchwork quilt made by his late mother.

“It was old,” he said. “It had been stored. It just would have been a nice blanket to keep him warm in the winter as a little bit of extra warmth for him this fall. I wanted to show it to him, but planned to store it for him until the fall, but then we didn’t see him. Both my wife and I were very upset when we heard what happened. I will miss him.”

Family touched by tributes

Deck’s half-sister, Heather Manske, said she has been touched by the memorial and tributes to her brother posted on social media.

A memorial for Rob Deck, of Vadnais Heights, outside the Panera restaurant in Vadnais Heights. Deck, 42, who was unhoused, was found dead by suicide at a self-storage facility in Vadnais Heights on June 29, 2024. (Courtesy of Heather Manske)

“I want people to know his story and know that he was loved and cared about and the impact that he had on the people who crossed his path,” she said.

One woman posted on social-media app Nextdoor that she once offered Deck some bottles of water on an especially hot day. “He was so polite,” she wrote. “He said, ‘No thank you, I have all that I need.’ He was sitting next to his grocery cart of life’s belongings.”

“Yes,” responded another. “He was always helping others, but didn’t like accepting the help of others. So sad.”

Deck grew up in Five Star Mobile Estates in Vadnais Heights and graduated from White Bear Lake High School, Manske said. He never married, but was the father of three children “who were the light of his life,” she said.

“Anyone who truly knew my brother Bob knew he was the most awesome, nice, giving, helpful, goofy person who was always there for everyone who came across him,” she wrote on GoFundMe, the online fundraising site.

“My brother came across some hard times a few years ago. He had so many people try to help him, but my brother wouldn’t ever swallow his pride, accept the help, or admit he needed help, so it led to him experiencing homelessness for many years. We still tried to help him. It just pushed him further away. He knew he was truly loved no matter his struggles or choices he made in life.”

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Family members suspect Deck, who had been through treatment for drug addiction, had again started using drugs in the years preceding his death.

“He would stay awake for days on end,” Manske said. “He wouldn’t let us help him. It just kept getting worse and worse and worse. In the last couple of years, he got more distant and more isolated. We tried and tried to get him to go get help, but he was in denial. He didn’t think he needed it.”

Her brother loved to laugh and was a wonderful father and uncle, said Manske, who said she had on many different occasions opened up her house to her brother.

“The last place he stayed was with me, but he didn’t stay long,” she said. “He had a huge heart and would give the next homeless person he saw whatever he had. He never begged for anything. He never asked for help. He would even turn down help.”

Breaking point

Deck had worked at different fast-food restaurants and convenience stores in Minnesota and at a bar and at a waste-management company in North Dakota. “He kind of did a lot of everything,” Manske said.

Deck’s three children, Angel, Isabella and Peyton, who live with their mother, “were his No. 1,” Manske said. “He would do anything and everything for them. He always did the best he could for his kids. They were his pride and joy.”

Deck lost contact with his children in 2016 – an event he never got over, she said. “Who my brother was at the time of his death isn’t who he was then,” she said. “Losing his kids was his breaking point. Once he lost his kids, he lost his home and he lost his job.”

Friends and family members created the GoFundMe online fundraiser (gofund.me/73322327) to help cover Deck’s funeral expenses. A celebration of Deck’s life will be held sometime later this year, Manske said.

“I wish he had swallowed his pride and taken the help,” she said. “I am glad he is no longer struggling. I just don’t like the way he went out.”

Deck was “focused on survival” the last few years, Krachmer said.

“He was trying to get work, but without an address and a way to keep himself presentable, that’s an overwhelming challenge,” he said. “Rob had had traumatic experiences early in his homelessness in shelters, so he refused to stay in a shelter. He slept outside a lot. On several occasions, just over the last couple of years, he ended up being picked up by the sheriff and taken to the hospital for exposure. … He wanted so much to be in a different place, but the burden became just too much.

“Every homeless person I have ever met has a complicated set of circumstances that keeps them from finding their way into a community,” said Krachmer, who has been mayor since 2022. “There is no one solution.”

Bearing burdens

Deck helped raise awareness about homelessness in Vadnais Heights, said Jason Darst, general manager of Panera Bread, who got to know Deck about two years ago.

Deck would often pull weeds and pick up trash outside the restaurant, he said. “He felt like it was his place,” he said. “He helped keep things looking nice around here. Everyone knew who he was.”

Customers would buy gift cards for Deck and leave them with restaurant staff, he said. “They could just tell he was a good person,” he said. “A lot of people would go out of their way to help him. Maybe they recognized him, maybe they didn’t, but they got a good vibe off of him.”

People would bring in boots, winter coats, snow pants and other warm clothes for Deck, he said. “They just wanted to make sure he had what he needed out there because they knew it was bad,” he said. “People always thought of him whenever the opportunity came up because they knew he was a good person and that he was worth investing in.”

If Deck saw anyone causing trouble near the restaurant, he would chase them off, Burke said. “He would say, ‘No, this is not the place for that,’” she said. “It was, ‘Go figure out where else you need to go, but don’t do that here.’”

Since Deck’s death, customers have talked repeatedly about what an impact he made on them, Burke said. “It’s so sad because he impacted so many lives and yet he had no idea,” she said. “Unfortunately, it’s too late.”

Deck had recently started videotaping some of his nighttime adventures in Vadnais Heights, and employees at Panera were saving up to buy him a GoPro video camera, she said.

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“We talked about having him post them on TikTok,” she said. “I don’t think he knew what TikTok was, but we were, like, ‘You could be famous for this.’ He was, like, ‘Oh, maybe I should look into it.’”

Burke said she and Deck shared many long conversations through the years.

Deck had recently started attending a Bible study and believed that “love is bearing one another’s burdens,” she said.

“I think that’s something that he did really well,” she said. “But it makes me sad because I don’t think any of us realized how many burdens he was actually carrying. There will never be another Rob.”

Suicide prevention information

If you need help: If you are in crisis, call 988 or text “Home” to 741741 for free, 24/7 support from the Crisis Text Line. Or, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
If you want to help: Five steps to help others as well as yourself at Take5tosavelives.org.
Please stay: Read survivor stories at Livethroughthis.org: “Our stories can save lives. You are not alone. Please stay.”
Local resources: More local resources at Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) at Save.org.

AFSCME Local 668, a union affiliated with AFSCME Council 5 that represents workers who provide services to the Metropolitan Council, said on Friday that members have voted to authorize a strike.

A statement by AFSCME Council 5 Executive Director Bart Andersen and Local 668 President Tiffany Leff said the workers are seeking “fair raises, an end to unfair and discriminatory performance-based pay, and the respect and dignity they deserve in the workplace.”

The guidelines for performance-based pay are not shared with workers, said Max Hall, the director for External Relations and Planning at AFCSME Council 5. “There is no transparency in the process.”

There will be a 10-day “cooling down period” required after the strike vote notice is sent to the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services. During this time, AFSCME and the Metropolitan Council will enter mediation.

The Metropolitan Council is a regional policy-making board that operates Metro Transit, Metro Mobility, and Transit Link for the seven counties in the Twin Cities metro area.

AFSCME Local 668 represents more than 700 workers in the metro area who maintain waste water sewage pipes, Metro Transit accident investigators, air and water quality testers, and those who process affordable housing construction requests.

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One of two men charged with exchanging a flurry of gunshots last year outside a White Bear Lake bar following an argument over a spilled drink has pleaded guilty to second-degree assault.

Charles Edward Stevens-Thigpen, who was shot in the leg during the Sept. 24 shootout at Doc’s Landing, entered the plea to the charge this week in Ramsey County District Court and faces up to seven years in prison, court records show. The 36-year-old from St. Paul is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 30.

Charles Edward Stevens-Thigpen and Kardell Baraka Otae Jackson (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Kardell Baraka Otae Jackson, 50, of St. Paul, faces the same assault charge and also two counts of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. His case is scheduled to go before a jury Aug. 8.

The charges say the two men fired 13 rounds at each other in the bar’s parking lot, including one that grazed a 48-year-old man who was sitting in the bar. A bullet was found lodged in a dart machine, and the three bullet holes were discovered in the bar’s roofline.

Another round, as surveillance video showed, nearly struck a woman who had run toward Jackson.

Officers were called to the bar along White Bear Avenue just north of Interstate 694 shortly before 1 a.m. The shooters had fled, but were soon identified as Stevens-Thigpen and Jackson, according to the charges against them.

The surveillance video showed that Stevens-Thigpen and Jackson got into a “heated dispute” inside the bar, the charges say. At one point, Jackson held a pool cue as if he was going to strike Stevens-Thigpen with it. Two women and a man intervened and blocked Stevens-Thigpen and Jackson from one another.

Jackson ran to his Chevrolet Tahoe with Stevens-Thigpen following a few seconds behind with a pistol in his hands. Jackson allegedly fired off a shot at Stevens-Thigpen, who had rounded the corner of the bar, barely missing him. Stevens-Thigpen took cover behind a Tesla, and the two men exchanged gunfire.

Stevens-Thigpen nearly shot a woman who ran toward the Tahoe. Jackson helped her get into the SUV before he again shot at Stevens-Thigpen. Stevens-Thigpen “grimaced” and began to favor his right leg, the charges say.

As Jackson and the woman fled the parking lot, Stevens-Thigpen fired three to four more rounds at the Tahoe. He ran to a GMC Denali and also fled.

Spilled drink on ex’s sister

Police say a man had called 911 to report he was trying to drive to the hospital after he had been shot in the leg. Officers tried to make contact with the caller, but he never answered return calls. The phone number was associated with Stevens-Thigpen.

Stevens-Thigpen voluntarily went to the police department two days later, turning over a Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun to police when he arrived.

Stevens-Thigpen told police he was at the bar when he bumped into a table, knocking over a glass of soda onto his ex-girlfriend’s sister. He said that caused an argument with the woman, who was Jackson’s girlfriend, and Jackson intervened.

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Stevens-Thigpen said he went to his Denali to get his 9mm as a “precaution.” He said when he saw Jackson in the parking lot, Jackson fired at him. He returned gunfire.

He said he went to a doctor the next day because of severe bleeding from his injury, and that his family convinced him to talk to police.

Jackson was arrested Sept. 27 in the parking lot of his workplace. His Tahoe had three bullet holes to its passenger side. He denied getting into an argument at Doc’s Landing, saying he tried to defuse the situation and left to avoid trouble.

He denied firing a gun at the bar. Officers executed a search warrant on his Tahoe and recovered a Glock 9mm handgun, the charges say.

A 20-year-old Granite Falls, Minn., man admitted in court Friday to choking and sexually assaulting his girlfriend in her St. Catherine University dorm room in September.

Keanu Avery Labatte entered a guilty plea in Ramsey County District Court to an amended charge of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the assault at the St. Paul university.

Keanu Avery Labatte (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

In exchange for the plea, the prosecution agreed to dismiss four other charges: two counts of first-degree sexual conduct and one count each of domestic assault by strangulation and threats of violence.

A cap of 7½ years in prison is also part of the plea deal, which comes just days before a jury trial was to begin. Labatte remains out of jail on an $80,000 bond ahead of a Nov. 4 sentencing hearing.

Labatte’s attorney, Thomas Beito, said Friday that his client admitted to “choking” the woman during the assault. “He did not admit to the other kind of salacious details that were involved here, such as waterboarding, or holding her hostage or kidnapping,” Beito said. “We deny that any of that happened.”

Beito said he will argue to Judge Kellie Charles that Labatte be given a probationary sentence, “due to his age, due to the fact that he doesn’t have any prior significant criminal history.”

Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, said prosecutors will ask that Labatte receive the full 7½-year term.

‘I plead the 5th’

According to the Sept. 11 criminal complaint, the woman reported to campus security at 10:50 a.m. Sept. 10 that she had been physically and sexually assaulted multiple times throughout three days in her room by Labatte, her boyfriend of two months. She said he was still in her room.

The university’s security supervisor told St. Paul police the woman was “distraught and visibly upset” when she reported the alleged abuse.

She told police Labatte arrived on campus Thursday night to visit her over the weekend and became “enraged” and “infuriated” after discovering text messages, pictures and social media information. She said he grabbed her phone, and kept it away from her.

She said Labatte went from giving her hickies, which was consensual, to forcefully removing her clothing and sexually assaulting her after she told him she did not want to have sex. At one point, she told police, Labatte put both of his hands around her neck and that it made her feel lightheaded and believe she was going to die.

That Saturday, she told police, Labatte forced her to lie down in the bathtub, where he covered her mouth with a washcloth and engaged in “waterboarding” by pouring buckets of water over her. He also allegedly threatened her with a knife.

She told police that Labatte let her leave the dorm room on Sunday morning after she convinced him she would get food from the cafeteria. Before she left, she said, Labatte gave her cellphone back to her and demanded that she take a picture showing that she made it to the cafeteria so he could keep track of her.

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While she was speaking with police, Labatte called the woman repeatedly. She said Labatte was paranoid that she was away from her room.

Police noted that she had black, blue and red marks on her neck, the complaint said, and Labatte was arrested on suspicion of domestic assault by strangulation and sexual assault. After being read his legal rights, Labatte said, “I plead the 5th.”

The woman went to a hospital for a sexual assault exam and said she was in pain from Labatte punching her in the stomach, throat and face. A nurse examiner noted bruising on her cheek, neck and ear, which the woman said was from Labatte biting her, according to the complaint.

The woman’s phone log showed that Labatte tried calling her five times while she spoke with police. He also texted her at 10:59 a.m. asking why police officers were outside.