https://www.startribune.com/family-of-man-killed-by-minneapolis-police-hires-civils-rights-attorney-ben-crump/600190587/Andrew "Tekle" Sundberg, age 20, is the latest young black man to be murdered by the deeply racist and fascist Minneapolis police department.
Born in Ethiopia, at age 13 he was adopted by Mark and Cindy Sundberg, a white Minnesotan family with 3 biological (all white) and
6 5 adopted (all black) children. Seven years later, Tekle had spent months stalking and harassing his neighbor, a black woman named Arabella 'Cassandra' Foss-Yarbrough, whom he apparently didn't have any relationship with. On July 14th, just two days ago, police were called to the apartment block on a shots fired call from her, telling police Tekle was shooting at her and her children in the apartment. As police arrived at the scene, there was a hail of gunfire as Tekle fired numerous rounds through the walls of Yarbrough's locked apartment, bullets whizzing narrowly past the kids. Police managed to evacuate the apartment and get the woman and her kids to safety, but Tekle barricaded himself in his apartment.
Quote
"Officers saw debris exploding from walls as shots were fired," according to a police report. "Officers called for backup and worked to rescue the mother and her children from the building in this active shooter situation. Officers also worked to move others to safety who were believed to be in danger."
Police tried employing non-lethal weapons and deterrents to flush out Tekle, as well as contacting his family and arranging for them to send text messages and a video call to their son to try to talk him into surrendering. He didn't.
After six hours of siege, for some as-of-yet-unknown cause, police snipers positioned on the roof next door shot and killed Tekle. The story is too new and details not available yet to know the immediate reason. It could have been he made an attempt to go out guns blazing, it could have been a mistake. We don't know.
What we do know is that the Sundberg family have already retained
Benjamin Crump, the man now called the "black attorney general", the true harbinger of great periods of race relations. This will be his next big mission, after George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, etc etc
Crump has already called this a police sanctioned "execution" and stated Tekle was just having a 'mental health crisis', criticizing that the family was restricted to texts/video instead of being allowed to visit the active gunman in a barricaded room in person. And that police responded to the call instead of mental health services, even though the cities new mental health response squad has an explicit policy of not going to any scene with firearms present;
Quote
"The family has been given very little information about why Tekle’s mental health crisis became a death sentence. His family rejects the public narrative that the Minneapolis Police Department’s efforts were done in close collaboration with his family.
"His parents were highly restricted in terms of their ability to interact with Tekle and were not allowed to do everything they could to save their son’s life."
They added: “The narrative released by the City of Minneapolis is unclear as to what specifically precipitated the shooting, stating, 'After approximately 6 hours of attempted negotiations, an officer-involved shooting occurred...'
"No information has been provided as to why Tekle, who officers had isolated for hours, suddenly needed to be executed. We call on the Minneapolis Police Department to immediately provide the family with the video evidence and other information necessary to answer this question."
A march and rally will be held in Minneapolis Saturday starting at 3 p.m., with the Sundberg family and Jeff Storms expected to speak outside 904 South 21st Ave., the apartment complex with he died.
Last night protesters gathered outside the apartment block. Cassandra Yarbrough is unable to return to her home, as its now a sealed off crime scene, and she was fired from her job yesterday for missing work
A gofundme campaign has been started for the Sundberg family;
Quote
“First and foremost, we want the world to know that Tekle was deeply loved and that his family and friends are beyond shocked and grieving from these horrific events. Tekle was a son, brother, grandson, uncle, nephew, and friend. He was smart, loving, funny, and kind. He had many artistic talents, including photography and painting. Tekle was a deep, soulful, critical thinker who drew strength and energy from being outside and gazing across the river. He never missed a good sunset. From the time he fixed a stapler for his preschool teacher, we knew Tekle to be capable of fixing anything – furniture, snowblowers, and his grandfather’s riding lawn mower. He had the strength and courage to challenge bullies and stand up for the most vulnerable, but also had the innate sensitivity to be capable of loving everyone and everything from plants to his beloved cat, Cali.
“Like millions in America and worldwide, Tekle struggled with his mental health. While we have received very little information thus far, by all accounts, it sounds like our Tekle was suffering from a mental health crisis. We send our deepest sympathies to anyone in his building impacted by his crisis, and we thank the community members who have come forward in loving memory of Tekle.”