[dramatic music]
♪
[sirens blaring]
- How you doing? - Okay. How are you?
- Mm-hmm.
[dramatic music]
♪
- So multiple gunshot wounds. Upper central chest and neck.
- Yeah.
- 19-year-old Elyja Larkin
recently learned he was going to be a father.
He and his fiancée had been planning to move
to a new neighborhood to make a fresh start.
- How many casings? - I count four.
[camera shutter clicking]
- Elyja was shot at a bus stop just outside the church.
- We're gonna go back to the office.
[dramatic music]
♪
- Hi.
- Sergeants Ann Kjos and Jim Jensen
interview one of Elyja's friends
who was near the church during the shooting.
- The witness says that moments later
a man at the bus stop attacked him.
- Okay.
- We got a name. I like having a name at first.
- Jontrel Bolden is 20 years old.
- Okay.
- That's Jontrel.
And you're certain of that?
- Really good witness, very detailed.
What isn't clear is exactly why
that confrontation went down.
- Yeah.
- A few hours in...
[phone ringing] - Hello?
- Kjos gets a break.
- Okay. It's two different buses.
Oh, my God, that's perfect.
- The transit police have footage of Elyja and Jontrel
getting off two different buses.
- You are my best friend. Thank you.
[chuckles] Bye.
Yay.
- So that's the suspect on the bus.
All this is gonna show you is the suspect.
- Okay.
- Yeah, that's him. - Oh, yeah, for sure.
- Mm-hmm.
He is on the bus for a long time.
So go to, like, 18, 17 hours.
So now he gets off and he kinda hangs out by the corner.
And now we have to see the other one.
- They pull up video from the victim's bus.
- That's the victim right there.
[indistinct chatter]
- They don't really have a care in the world.
- No. They're having a good time.
They're pulling up.
- Now your suspect, he's right here.
- Elyja and his friend approach the suspect, Jontrel.
[dramatic music]
♪
- Jeez, he started it.
The victim started it.
[dramatic music]
♪
Jontrel, he's almost trying to run away,
and he goes backwards to shoot at the victim.
- Yeah. - Self defense.
♪
[dramatic music]
♪
- This is all self defense.
His best bet would have been just to come in to us and say,
"Dude just attacked me and in self defense, shot him."
- He has a story to tell.
[dramatic music]
♪
- Police department!
- The Violent Criminal Apprehension Team
hits the streets...
- We're looking for Jontrel.
- Hoping to track Jontrel down and convince him to talk.
- If you see Jontrel, can you give me a call?
You don't know where he is? - He don't live here.
- With Jontrel nowhere to be found,
Kjos brings in one of his friends to help.
- If somehow you're able to get ahold of Jontrel,
I'll take the call any time.
- Okay, him running makes his story
less and less believable.
- Kjos explains Jontrel may have a self defense case,
but he must come forward soon.
- Okay, he is going to be charged tomorrow with murder.
- With murder unless he calls us tonight
and explains what's going on.
- The next day,
there is still no word from Jontrel.
Sergeant Kjos issues a warrant for second degree murder.
- If he continues to hide like this,
it just keeps making him look more and more guilty.
[dramatic music]
[phone ringing]
Hello?
Yes. Thank you very much.
Jontrel Bolden has been booked booked
into Hennepin County jail.
Now I can go interview him
about why he ended up shooting Elyja.
Nine times out of ten, you want an attorney.
But then there's that one time
when you are truly in fear of your life
it might be to your benefit to tell us why you shot him
Why did this shooting happen?
I mean, was there a previous encounter between these guys?
Or is this a gang thing?
He's not talking to me right now,
so we don't know why.
[brooding music]
♪
[indistinct chatter]
[Muzak playing]
♪
[tense music]
♪
[blow lands]
[dramatic music]
[indistinct yelling]
♪
[gun fires]
[screaming]
[eerie music]
♪
- How are ya? - Hello.
- What happened?
- Apparently, there was a-- a shots fired call come out.
- OK.
- The victim was seen here on the ground not breathing.
He was hit one time right through the left side.
And one right-- right straight through.
And that's where he was found when we got here.
- OK.
♪
- Do we know how many shots from the shots fired at all?
- Two. - Two?
- The first one looks like he's--at the group.
The second one is here and you can see
the debris come up on the video.
- Have you seen it?
- The video? - Yeah.
- Yeah. It's good.
It's definitely a good video.
- OK. - Yeah.
- [exhales]
[door creaks]
Hey.
[tense music]
♪
[indistinct talking]
The store clerk said these guys come in here every day.
But they don't know the names of them.
- What I'm gonna do is export all the video.
Tonight then we can review it.
- There's a couple people who witnessed what was going on.
♪
- All right.
Hi, I'm Darcy.
We'll take you downtown so we can get a statement from you.
♪
[solemn music]
♪
And to do that, we need to talk to people
find out what they saw, and what they heard,
what they know.
male narrator: The friend says the victim had just come
from the convenience store.
- So, the dude that robbed him was in the store?
narrator: She says the victim intended to confront the man
and wanted a few friends to back him up.
- Did you see anything that happened outside, then?
narrator: The victim punched his alleged robber
while the victim's friends looked on.
narrator: She says the shooter must have been friends
with the man who was punched.
narrator: They thought the shooter
was just another customer coming out of the store.
- Anybody know a name, or-- a name of either of these guys?
♪
- We are looking at some video footage right now that was
recovered from the store.
♪
The victim is right here.
♪
narrator: The video shows the victim of the shooting
leaving the convenience store.
♪
- Here comes the crew.
♪
Right there. He throws on him.
See him reach in his... pocket.
♪
And it happens really quick.
[mouse clicking]
♪
Suspect is right down here.
♪
Does he ever really look up at the camera?
♪
He goes to the far cooler
and he grabs a colored bottle.
♪
Hold on.
Switcheroo.
Do you see it?
Right there.
narrator: After carrying a bottle of Sprite,
the shooter puts it back in a different cooler.
- Oh, yeah.
Yeah, he does.
- We could have DNA or fingerprints.
♪
[tense music]
- Check this out.
He's showing them what he had,
he's telling them where to go,
points them to the right cooler,
and here comes the switcheroo.
[dramatic music]
Sets down the bottle of the Sprite.
♪
I don't know if he opened it and drank from it.
My guess is probably not.
But, you know, it was handled by a suspect.
♪
[suspenseful music]
narrator: Detectives head back to the crime scene.
♪
- We need the name of the guy.
Once we get the name, then the work starts all over.
♪
[tense music]
[mellow music]
♪
We went to the area of the cooler
where we saw him set down the bottle.
And the Sprite bottle is out of place.
Had our crime lab come out and get it,
and process it and
he got a fingerprint on it.
♪
So, we'll see who that comes back to.
♪
[bells ringing faintly]
♪
- All right, thank you, sir.
All right, bye.
- What's the print from?
- The bottle that I had him grab from the refrigerator--
- You had him?
- You didn't-- - Well, you didn't--
I told him to do it. - You did.
- You told me to pass it onto him and do it.
- You just worry about typing and not talking.
'Cause clearly you can't type and talk.
- Brandon, Benjamin.
♪
Bang, boom.
♪
narrator: The print comes back
to 30-year-old Brandon Broszko.
His prior convictions include drug possession
and aggravated robbery.
- That's him.
♪
[tense music]
- That's who we're looking for.
[knocking]
Hi.
- When was the last time you saw Brandon?
♪
- All right, appreciate it.
Bye.
That was Brandon's attorney.
♪
He's gonna turn himself in.
♪
They're on their way to our office.
They'll be here shortly.
♪
[indistinct chatter]
♪
All right.
It's our understanding
you're not gonna give us a statement today?
♪
- No.
- OK.
Well, for what it's worth,
we appreciate you turning yourself in.
'cause, you know, a lot of people are looking for you.
This way.
- I think it just needs closure.
There's a murderer that's in jail.
He's off the streets.
Give chance--you know, to give Brandon
the opportunity not to have to run anymore.
- All right.
♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[crickets chirping]
[dogs barking]
[phone dial tone]
[dogs barking]
[sirens wailing]
[dogs barking]
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- I had just turned over to--
to assume the position to go to bed.
Hello, dream team.
- Oh, we know. - Hi, Autry.
How are you again? - Gotta stop meeting like this.
We get a call of a person shot.
I roll up, get flagged down by the neighbors
advising somebody was shot up this way.
Other units, uh, start searching for the--
the person shot, and...
male narrator: Patrol finds the victim
just inside the back door.
- OK. He still in there?
- Yes.
- Paul's getting a warrant now.
- OK.
Do we have his ID? - His--yeah.
"Benjamin Thompson."
One, three of '88.
[somber music]
narrator: 28-year-old Benjamin Thompson
worked as a carpenter and electrician
and was the dedicated father of three boys and one girl.
♪ ♪
- A guy ran down there, said someone was shot.
narrator: A man who says he's friends with the victim
claims he was there at the time of the shooting.
- Some kind of altercation goes on, he ran out the house
and ran to a neighbor's.
- He was in a car.
- We didn't interview him yet
because we wanted to talk to you first.
♪ ♪
- At that same time, lieutenant's rolling up.
He sees somebody running from the scene.
narrator: Responding officers also caught a suspicious male
leaving the scene.
- We'll get him detained.
Pulled a Glock out of one leg
and a Ruger out of the other leg.
♪ ♪
We got him detained in my car.
narrator: The two men will be taken to headquarters
for questioning.
- Have we actually cleared the house?
- We haven't been inside at all yet, so...
Supposed to be-- it's a dog in there.
Animal control's here on scene
waiting for us to get the warrant.
- And I ain't going to
till we get that dog out of here.
- Yeah, so that's what we're waiting for.
- [laughing]
[indistinct chatter]
♪ ♪
- There's some surveillance footage,
so we have Investigator T. coming down
to see if he can look in the DVR,
do something with that footage.
Um, not too sure what we're gonna find,
if it's even recording.
[suspenseful music]
All right, I'm going to head down to the office now
and, um, talk with these guys.
I really don't want to draw any conclusions
or assumptions right now, 'cause it can always change.
♪ ♪
[engines revving]
[door opens, closes]
- That guy, he ran to go get help.
This boy...
was running from the scene.
I'm gonna talk to the witness first,
just get his story and go from there.
See what he tells me.
♪ ♪
Let's start from the beginning.
narrator: The witness says
the victim asked him to come along
as he made a delivery across town.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Who was saying "Why you shoot?"
- The short one? - Mm-hmm.
- How many people was there in the house?
- OK, so the--the shooter, what does he look like?
- What do you think was going on, from--
- I believe him for right now, until I see this video.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Can you come watch this? - Yeah.
♪ ♪
narrator: The surveillance video
from the crime scene comes in.
- Pull a seat up.
- Oh, right there's one.
[laughs] OK.
- OK.
♪ ♪
Starts about there.
narrator: Five minutes before the 911 call...
♪ ♪
- That's my victim right there with the box.
The guy behind him is the guy that I just talked to.
♪ ♪
He said he goes to the bathroom.
♪ ♪
- He said he was a little dude.
♪ ♪
- Boom.
- Yeah, so this is what he's saying,
that he hit him in the head.
- But see, I'm thinking the shooting happened.
You see that jerk?
- Yeah. - Uh-uh, I ain't see a jerk.
- Take it back a little bit.
♪ ♪
Right there. - Yeah, it looked like
he heard a shot.
- He's got the gun. - Yep.
- I see it. - Yeah.
- He's--OK, yeah.
- That's your dude you got detained, right?
- Yeah, uh-huh.
♪ ♪
He said the taller dude, the one that comes
with the shorter dreads.
- Go ahead and start typin' on that warrant.
- [laughs]
[door opens, closes]
♪ ♪
- OK...
[speaks indistinctly]
You good?
- You do want a attorney?
- OK.
All righty.
♪ ♪
He lawyered up, which I knew he was.
He ain't stupid.
I'm gonna call the DA's office.
We're gonna take his clothes, do a GSR on 'em,
and go from there.
I'm pretty confident that this is the person.
♪ ♪
[birds chirping]
♪ ♪
I was able to track down all the parties that I needed
to speak to that were in the surveillance footage.
They provided me with statements
that were very helpful, and the information that I got
in the beginning of this investigation
that this could have been over a box of sneakers,
that proved to be incorrect.
This was a drug deal... gone bad,
and this was a robbery gone bad.
♪ ♪
There's a saying that they say:
"You go to the cemetery, and you see a lot of, um...
"lost hopes and dreams.
"You go to the prison, and you see...
"a lot of hopes and dreams and talent...
that's wasted away."
♪ ♪
[children chattering]
narrator: 17 months after the murder...
- What I miss most of my dad
is being with him.
- My mom had five kids, and he was the oldest,
and I was the second oldest.
And he was the man of the house,
and he protected us.
- Every issue I had, he would be there on the spot.
Like, he could be anywhere... - [laughs]
- One phone call, he's there in a--in a hurry.
- My life has completely flipped upside-down, you know?
And it's really hard,
'cause he was an amazing person.
- I love and miss my son.
I love him.
I miss him.
♪ ♪
[brooding music]
♪
[peaceful music]
♪
male narrator: Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Home to the largest Somali population
in the United States.
♪
[tense music]
And over the years, many homicide investigations
with Somali victims have gone unsolved.
- A man was found shot to death--
- Says he promoted peace throughout his life.
- After another deadly shooting--
- He's well-known to many as a Somali leader--
- This could have been your dad, your grandfather--
- But the police need the people that live here
to be the eyes and ears--
[dramatic music]
♪
[police sirens wailing]
- Thank you. - Mm-hmm.
[somber music]
♪
- I've been up since Wednesday, so I'm gonna need
18 cups of coffee.
So if you could get that ready for me, that'd be great.
- How much do you know?
- I know nothing. - OK.
Shooting call comes out at 22:47,
in front of the cultural center,
right up here.
Guy's on the ground. He's shot in the head.
narrator: The 24-year-old Somali victim
was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
♪
- Is he cooperative? - Semi.
He's just wanting to get to the hospital real bad.
narrator: A family member was with the victim
when EMS arrived.
- We're gonna get you out of here as soon as we can.
Just give me a few more minutes, OK?
Thank you.
[tense music]
♪
Sorry about all this.
- Oh, yeah. That's all right.
- Um, do you have cameras?
- No, we don't.
- Do you know who does on the block?
- You know,
I don't think anybody does except for the one, you know,
the ones up there on the traffic lights.
- Right. - And then there were these two
on there that I'm not sure if that's even activated.
- OK. Um, if you hear anything,
or you think of anything-- - Yeah. Yeah.
- If you could let me know, I'd appreciate it.
- Yeah, we do a lot of work with the Somali community.
So we, you know, if we hear anything,
we'll let you know. - Appreciate it.
The business owner doesn't think there are any cameras
on this block. I'll have city cameras
and I might have a camera at the bank.
You don't happen to know any--
- OK.
- Oh, really?
[soft dramatic music]
- What's your name?
- No name, OK.
♪
There are so many young Somalian victims.
The challenge is trying to get people to talk to us.
Um, I just talked to two people
that don't want to get involved.
The only way I can solve these crimes is if you help me.
♪
- So, here's what I know.
narrator: Sergeant Jane Moore interviewed the family member
who was on the scene.
- He was out back smoking a cigarette.
All the sudden, everybody's talking about
how there were some shots fired.
So he ran toward the shooting, and that is the gist of it.
♪
- Oh, look.
Our victim is Madhibaan With Attitude.
narrator: Madhibaan With Attitude
is a local Somali gang.
- We do have some gang ties going on here, so.
♪
- OK, we can watch the video.
We don't have to wait for the disk.
- All right. - 'Cause we have
the downtown cameras. - OK.
- ♪ Ha ha ha ha - That's true.
- That street's Cedar camera.
narrator: Sergeant Dunphy
accesses police surveillance footage
from around the time of the murder.
♪
- Oh, there he goes. Did you see him?
So, there's the two running. The victim's right here.
He's got a white T-shirt on, black pants.
I wonder if these are the two walking over here.
♪
Yep, they walk over. There he is.
Now watch. There he goes, falls down.
And they run away.
They walk across the street.
They know exactly who they're going for.
They won't say anything.
There's not enough time for an argument.
- All right, so we got some--
at least we got video of the actual crime itself.
- We do.
But it doesn't help us identify anybody.
But where they turn the corner right there,
that's the Associated Bank.
And they get really close.
I'm hoping that camera catches them as they run.
We need that video.
♪
Is it the bank? - Yes.
narrator: The next day, Sergeant Twila Villella
gets the surveillance footage from the Associated Bank.
♪
- Do they run through here, or we don't know yet?
- I don't--What is that facing?
- Let's go around the other side and see which direction
they run in.
- Don't boss us.
- Boss you around.
- Um... - It's 'cause I know more.
Isn't that what your sticker says?
- Yeah, "I'm not bossy, I just know more than you."
all: [laughing]
♪
- There they are. - There they go.
- Oh, they do go that way. - Yeah.
- They don't know where they're going.
They're trying to figure out where to go.
♪
- OK-- - What's he doing?
- What happened to the other one?
- What's he doing back there? - Hiding.
He's dumping the gun in there.
- I bet you he's dumping it.
- He didn't go in there, did he?
- He hasn't left.
So here's one. Yep, there he--
- There he goes.
♪
- He dumped his jacket. - Yes, he did.
- He dumped his jacket.
We gotta go. - OK.
- He dumped the gun and the jacket.
We gotta go find it.
[dramatic music]
- Oh, how beautiful.
- Oh, God, please don't have garbage pick-up.
- Yes, we did.
♪
- We've lost a little bit of time here.
We might be a little bit late on this.
Whose dumpster is that? Do we know?
- Kind of hoping it's not a restaurant's.
- Me, too, I hope it's, like, an office building's dumpster.
- Right? Yes.
- They'll have less food. - They'll have paper in there.
♪
- OK.
- I saved it for you guys.
- Thank you.
[pensive music]
♪
Oh, God. That's gross.
These two have stuff in them.
If she pulls her car up, I could step on the tire and--
I should have worn jeans.
I didn't know I was gonna be dumpster diving today.
I'm gonna go in the dumpster. Yep.
'Cause remember when I said I was glamorous?
This is what I was talking about.
♪
[grunts]
Wow, that's really deep.
♪
Oh, God. That's hair.
OK, no, I'm good. I'm not gonna throw up.
♪
I just think there's not enough garbage in here for three days.
Damn it. They dumped the garbage.
So, we knew that was a possibility.
But you gotta try.
- Yeah.
Ah, so close.
It would just be cool to solve this.
- Video's telling us a big story here,
so it's important we keep going.
♪
We got a phone call earlier from the investigator
at first precinct who, uh, was interviewing this gentleman
who has indicated he has information.
Um, apparently he's gonna talk about
the who, what, where, when, why, and how.
We came up to a dead end with leads in that case.
This opens it up a little bit.
♪
Got a little information. Not much.
He talked about, uh, a case that happened--
I think it was a couple years ago
on, uh, 15th and Nicollet.
And it had to do with our victim's brother.
That's what this was all about, retaliation.
Got some names to check out.
The problem is, we don't have enough PC yet
to pick up anybody.
We encourage this individual to have someone come forward
who can identify these guys, because they were there.
♪