Post and photos by the Hawthorne HawkmanEarlier this week, I was driving through Hawthorne, when I saw yet another makeshift memorial. This one was for a Todd A. Copeland, a name that was not familiar to me.
But what initially made me pull over to look for more details was...
...the location. The memorial is located just north of 29th Ave N and 4th St N, off of Farview Park. I've been traveling a bit, for my grandmother's funeral and my younger brother's high school graduation, so I thought I might have missed the news of a recent homicide near the park and the EcoVillage.
Still, I've done various Google searches and can't seem to find anything. I've asked around and nobody seems to know who this guy was. Whether he died as a victim of a crime or not, it's clear his loss is mourned. So I want to know: who was this guy?
My position on the makeshift memorials remains the same, however. If they are put up at all, then after a period of time (maybe a week, certainly not much longer), they ought to come down - UNLESS the owner of the property gives their consent. In this case, the memorial sits in front of a vacant house, meaning its unlikely that the owner consents or will maintain it - evidenced by the broken bottles at the foot of the tree.
Furthermore, if Copeland was not the victim of a homicide, then that is yet another reason the makeshift memorial ought to come down quickly. I'm surely not the only one who drove past and made that assumption. We've got enough problems with the perception of north Minneapolis violent crime. We certainly don't need things like this adding to a negative image of our community.
So who was Todd Copeland?
Try here.
ReplyDeleteTook me two seconds with Google.
ReplyDelete"Little Todd" Copeland, 9, and a pal decided Tuesday that they liked each other's trick bicycles so much that they'd swap. But when their fathers heard about the trade, one didn't like it.
A fight ensued Wednesday night. When it ended, Little Todd's dad, Todd A. Copeland, 28, was dead and a friend had been shot in the arm outside a duplex in the 2900 block of N. 4th St. in Minneapolis' Hawthorne neighborhood.
About noon Thursday, police arrested a 30-year-old man in connection with the shooting. The suspect is a friend of the other father.
Details are still unfolding, but witnesses and police gave this account:
Copeland and his older brother, Michael, 30, were going to talk to other's boy father, who was unhappy that his son's blue trick bike with mag wheels had been traded for a black one that Copeland had put together in his back yard.
Before they met up with the other father, another neighborhood boy told them that Little Todd (whose real name is Don Quarius Copeland) and his friend had settled things.
So Todd Copeland and his brother went to the duplex, and Mike Copeland said that when he left about 8:30 p.m., his brother was drinking beer with friends, including Carlos DeFrance, 18.
A short time later, the other boy's father and his friend knocked on the door of the duplex. When Copeland came out, the father punched him and knocked him down. Copeland got up and chased the father into the street. DeFrance followed.
When the other father's friend pulled a gun, DeFrance and Copeland ran for the house. DeFrance was shot in the arm and was recuperating at home Thursday. Copeland was shot in the neck, side and chest.
In the upstairs unit of the duplex, Tina Kelm, 36, was putting her 1-year-old to bed when she heard shots and called police. Her brother, Joe DeMars, said he heard about four shots.
I could only find it via Google Cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:jceM8o8prg0J:www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php%3Ft%3D8876+todd+copeland+minneapolis&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
Thanks, this is just another example of why we need to start tearing down the duplexes and triplexes in NOMI. If even one person is saved it is truely worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteThe second anonymous commenter is a troll.
ReplyDeleteTo the first anon and La Vie, what search tactics did you use? I'll admit to being not very tech-savvy (even as I put a live link in a comment thread). I searched for Todd Copeland, Todd A Copeland, and put in Minneapolis and homicide and got such a huge stream of obviously unrelated material I couldn't find what you posted.
From the looks of the link, it seems this happened several years ago, right?
Concur, the second anonymous commenter is a troll who doesn't believe what they themselves are writing, just trying to stir the pot in a way it wouldn't naturally get stirred.
ReplyDeleteI'm giving this memorial 48hours and then i'm tearing this one down as well. If this is my role in the neighborhood then so be it.
ReplyDeleteIf tearing down a convenience store is a reasonable approach to crime reduction, then why is the suggestion that duplexes and triplexes be removed considered "Troll"? There are posts in fact on this blog decrying the addition of bedrooms to a home to accompdate additional occupants. Crime is the reason sited for the outrage.
ReplyDeleteHawthorne Hawkman, when looking for a certain person on GOOGLE, put the name in quotes "Todd Copeland" and some other word...In this case I used death (no quotes) and came up with the link that had the story in it.
ReplyDeleteI just popped "Todd Copeland Minneapolis" into Google, and it was the third link after the blog. Google's search logarithms work pretty damn quickly to link similar results, so publishing the post pushed that old link to next in line (and of course, the Star Tribune link from 2003 was dead).
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I are huge tech nerds. He's handy with hardware, and I'm handy with software and everything else.
Forgot to mention that I didn't have time to search the Websleuths forum for the actual link as I was heading to bed, so sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it apparently happened around the second or third week of June 2004. 2003 is my typo. (Kind of difficult to focus when you've got a wisdom tooth coming in at an odd angle.)
This makes me sick...
ReplyDeleteWhen I first drove by that "memorial" I thought somebody was having a birthday party.
ReplyDeleteI get it now... and understand the balloons, cross, signed poster board, etc... but isn't it kinda disrespectful to leave trash at a memorial?
I'm guessing after last night's downpour the whole thing is probably trash...
Just biked by there, still there. Also now there's more bottles and some smashed ones in the road... I would not want my tragic death to be marked with bottles, and a poster with so many curse words.
ReplyDeletePatrick is engaged in troll-like behavior. I doubt very much if he's going to tear down a memorial, rather he is trying to create a negative discussion that will fly back at the blog. Patrick's longstanding pattern of saying things he doesn't actually think is very clear, if you go back and compare all his comments the pattern makes NO SENSE AT ALL.
ReplyDeleteJNS blog does not advocate the memorials simply being "torn down," rather I (we?) advocate the memorials being removed by legal means.
Hey you do your revitalizing your way and i'll do it mine. If you look at every memorial posted here i've posted that i'm tearing it down and bamm! No need to thank me, it's just my way of keeping NOMI clean.
ReplyDeleteSo... what legal means are at my disposal to remove this trash magnet? Trash begets trash in this neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteHans it is entirely LEGAL to remove any of these thug memorials on public property. Just like the damn phonebooks it's LITTER. I just pull up in a car, yank it down and put all the trash in a bag and drive off before anyone can come over.
ReplyDeletePatDICK :
ReplyDeleteI think you should maybe ask the family if it can be removed. Before taking action like that. Cause even though I disapprove of them I still feel the need to respect the family. Plus it's only been up there not even a week. After a week, I say take it down.
Are you gonna come in my yard and rip up the tree I planted in honor of my father?
Hater
This memorial isn't on public property.
ReplyDeleteThat may be the case but from the pictures it looks to be in front of a vacant house. I've not driven by N 4th st yet to check it out but if that house is vacant it's fair game just like with phonebooks, leaflets etc. For those who want to call me a dick fine but I don't want booze bottle riddled memorials cluttering up the neighborhood. You don't see this nonsense in normal neighborhoods and we should be doing it here. That is what the cemetary is for.
ReplyDeletePatrick--
ReplyDeleteI'm not calling you a dick. I'm calling you a troll and a liar. You come to this blog and take all kinds of positions that appear to be solely for the purpose of stirring the pot, and not actual positions you believe in. Saying you're going to tear down these memorials is just another one of these false positions.
You don't see this nonsense in normal neighborhoods
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'll call you a liar AND a dick. I don't know about this city (or your idea of a "normal neighborhood"), but I've seen memorials like this in rich neighborhoods and small towns back in Indiana and Ohio. It's not only "a thug thing" or "a black thing," just so you know, dumb-ass.
Even though I disagree with Patrick I think it's about time I stopped feeding this troll.
ReplyDelete*puts hand up* That was ME calling you a dick.. I guess I shoulda said "Pattroll"
ReplyDeletePat the troll is on pattrol! (Patrol!)
ReplyDeleteYeah, big tough Pat is going to rip down the thug memorial. And he's going to announce it here on Johnny Northside.
Hey, Pat, I bet it hurts when you've got girls making fun of you. But I bet it's not the first time.
Take picture, Pat, and send them to me. Pictures of the imaginary act you're going to perform. All the way from where? Afton?
ReplyDeleteThat's awfully sexist to say that there is something worse about a woman making fun of someone than a man doing it.
ReplyDeleteSexism has no place in NoMi.
Blah blah blah has no place in NoMi says the anonymous poster, who is probably nowhere NEAR NoMi.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to those pictures, Patrick.
well if nobody else is going to remove this eyesore...
ReplyDeleteThese memorials have no place in NoMi and should be stripped down. They are complete nonsense and made to age and weather to look like garbage! If it's not legal to tear it down we should have some type of ordinance. How do we go about getting that?
ReplyDeleteI guess Minneapolis doesn't have a time limit on how long these memorials can be up. Milwaukee put an ordinance in stating they can only be up for a week and then the city will take them down.I think this is something Minneapolis should look at doing...Start with the councilman.
ReplyDeleteOh, my word. Somebody get me a copy of the Milwaukee ordinance and any press associated with this issue in Milwaukee?
ReplyDelete