JNS BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Haywood Eaton's Mother, Stephanie Moreland, Is The "Assless Underwear Bandit"

Photo, blog post by John Hoff


The second Northside shooting incident associated with a memorial to murder victim Haywood Eaton reminded me of an old story about Haywood Eaton's mother, Stephanie Moreland a/k/a Stephanie Eaton, a/k/a Stephanie Eaton-Moreland.

Ms. Moreland was involved in the theft of a mink coat which, incredibly, she managed to hide in her underwear for three days while in police custody. The story garnered Moreland brief fame on the bigger, wider internet. But I'd never seen the criminal complaint associated with the story, so I decided to go looking and see if it was true, that this woman hid a mink coat in her underwear for three days while in police custody.

I found the story was not only true, but a wealth of bizarre details existed. To facilitate shoplifting the mink coat, Moreland utilized underwear with the seat portion removed.

Yes, assless underwear...

Cost Of Previous Haywood Eaton Vigil/Riot Was $14,340, Similar Incident A Few Nights Ago Expected To Cost Roughly The Same...

Photo by John Hoff, Haywood Eaton shooting, blog
post by John Hoff

I know it's hard to keep straight all the shootings, and memorials to shootings, and shootings at memorials to shootings, so let me break it down and make it plain.

A few years ago, a young man named Haywood Eaton was shot and killed at Broadway and Bryant Ave. N. by another young man named Denell Malone. Neither of these two young men was better than the other, it was just fate that Malone got the drop on Eaton rather than...

Mug Shot For Murderer Denell Malone, Shooter In 2009 Burger King Baby Mama Drama...

DOC mug shot, therefore public domain, blog post by John Hoff

Denell Malone, who apparently shares a similar name with his criminally-inclined father, Dennel Malone, was the killer of Haywood Eaton in 2009's deadly "baby mama drama" at the Burger King on West Broadway. To be fair, neither Denell nor Haywood were saints, and on another day it could have just as easily been Denell dead on the ground instead of Haywood.

Recently, I was taking a spin through the Minnesota DOC website, looking to see if mug shots were turning up for characters associated with bygone North Minneapolis incidents. (Stuck in Afghanistan, away from neighborhood events, I gravitate to bloggy tasks that stick to purely internet-based fact digging)

Sure enough, there was "Baby" Denell Malone, smiling like he'd just won a scholarship.

(Sarcasm font)

His father must be so proud.

(Do Not Click "Read More")

Haywood Eaton's Momma Steals A Mink Coat in Her Underwear

Photo of Haywood Eaton and friend from social media webpage

The headline says it all, folks. Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up. Read for yourself about how a woman shoplifted a mink coat by stuffing it in her underwear.

"Last New Year's Eve, Ms. Moreland smuggled a mink coat out of the Alaskan Fur Company store in Bloomington, Minn. Cops were called and tracked her car down, where they found the coat hanger but no coat. They held her in jail and questioned her for three days, until she eventually revealed she had the coat on her person at all times — stashed inside her underwear. (If there's a Hall of Fame for Terrible Detective Work, I also have a nomination to suggest.)"

The article had been shared around the internet a bit, and a behind the scenes tipster informed me this mink coat shoplifter was the mother of thug-on-thug homicide victim Haywood Eaton, whose homicide and criminally disorderly memorial gathering has been covered on this blog.  

If I could make just one suggestion to the authorities... Just *let* her keep the dang coat this time, I mean really, what else are you gonna do with it NOW?!

(Do Not Click "Read More")

Massive Police Response to Thug Memorial Riot

Contributed Cell Phone Image, Cub Foods, 9-26-10

The early evening of Sunday, September 26 brought a massive police presence to West Broadway, eerily similar to a Sunday afternoon exactly one year ago.

I received the contributed photo above on my cell phone, from a friend who went to Cub Foods to grab some groceries for her family.  Knowing me all to well, she figured I'd know what was going on, or would at least get to the bottom of it shortly. Sure enough, she was right. The photo now makes sense after learning about the Haywood Eaton Memorial Riot, written about in the previous post. 

This is what we counter-affectionately refer to as "thugs being thuggy".  Or, to break that down for you further, the people causing this sort of problem around the northside city country would be fine to live around and have as community members.  It's their choice of thuggy behavior that makes life so difficult. Really difficult.  Just ask Haywood Eaton.

In honor of Haywood Eaton, go out and make some 9-1-1 and 3-1-1 revitalization calls.  Perhaps it could even save a life.

GBT4P

(Do Not Click "Read More")

Haywood Eaton Memorial Attendees Incite Riot on West Broadway

Crowd gathered at scene of homicide 9-27-09

Officers push back the crowd and expand the crime tape perimeter

Crime Lab van arrives on the scene, yellow tape as far as the eyes can see

Expanded perimeter in place, Officers guard the scene and scan the crowd for disturbances

Haywood Eaton was gunned down in broad daylight on West Broadway last September.  This September, one year later, there was a gathering in his honor. Here's the summary from the Fourth Precinct highlights, which many revitalizers counter-affectionately refer to as the low lights.

Assault4/ Police/Emergency Personnel  / Riot

10XX Broadway Ave W       Sunday          9/26/10                1653 hrs                             10-296059

Officers responded to a disturbance at this location.  Officers attempted to speak to a party who was running a “memorial” with approx. 100 people in attendance.   While getting out of the squad car, AP2/female, 46 yrs, kicked the door back at officer, pinning his legs between the squad door & the squad frame.  Officer made contact with AP2 & a fight ensued.  During the fight, AP2 attempted to grab the officer’s gun numerous times.  AP2 was taken into custody.  The group began inciting a riot & officers advised the group numerous times on the PA system that they were engaging in unlawful assembly & if they didn’t leave, they’d be arrested.  Someone threw a rock at the squad, breaking the window & door frame.   A total of 6 people were either booked in HCJ or tagged for their participation.  AP5/female, 19 yrs, was booked in HCJ for PC RIOT due to her involvement in the unlawful assembly which resulted in an intentional act of violence towards officers & damage to city property.   Officers received medical attention.  


Let us all look forward to the day when our community is not burdened with the violence towards each other, nor towards the police that serve and protect us.  Let's wish for the day when homicide memorials have no reason to take place and our police are not endangered by rioting thug memorializers who try to steal their guns straight off their hips. 

God Bless the 4th Precinct. GBT4P.  
(Do Not Click "Read More")

"Thug Memorials" Refreshed In North Minneapolis--No Good Will Come Of This!

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

On Memorial Day--the holiday set aside to honor dead members of the military who actually made some kind of (expletive) positive contribution to this nation--at least two "thug memorials" were refreshed in North Minneapolis. One of the memorials, pictured above, is at Hawthorne Crossings strip mall and memorializes Haywood Eaton, who died in a hail of bullets over some kind of drama involving a vehicle--badly borrowed, but NOT stolen.

The other memorial is in the Jordan Neighborhood and memorializes Marvin Ray Maynard, a much-too-young-to-die young man who was hanging out with the wrong crowd and paid for it with his life.

Despite promises made in the dark by the 311 system, check out this blog post, the Marvin Ray Maynard memorial has only been "addressed" by being ignored. At one time there was one teddy bear in the memorial--tied to the tree like a torture victim--now it appears the first teddy bear died in a gang-related incident, but left a whole brood of little bears with no decent father figure in their life.

As for Haywood Eaton's memorial, the soggy remains had been removed--apparently by management at the drug-and-thug infested Hawthorn (sic) Crossings strip mall, only to...

...reappear on Memorial Day.

Despite my hard ass tone, I am sorry for the loss represented by these memorials. I think memorialization is appropriate and, indeed, could take place at the site of their untimely deaths for as long as a month. But after a month or so, the appropriate place for a memorial is a CEMETERY. My neighborhood is not a cemetery and my neighborhood should not LOOK like a cemetery.

The Mayor has announced crime-fighting initiatives in North Minneapolis, including (my personal favorite) leaning hard on uncooperative victims of shootings living the "thug life." Well, I think getting rid of these "thug glorifying memorials" is surely one valuable piece of the strategic puzzle.

How Long is Long Enough for Makeshift Memorials?

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman

Earlier this week, I was talking with some employees at businesses in the Hawthorn (sic) Crossings strip mall. One concern that got brought up was the memorial for Haywood Eaton on the corner of Broadway and Bryant.

The sun has faded much of the lettering away. The balloons have long since deflated. Many of the businesses don't want this on the property anymore, and their customers have said so too. Calls to the property owner, Sherman Associates, have gone unanswered.

People have said they wouldn't even mind taking down this memorial themselves, except for two things...

...first, a level of respect for the deceased and his loved ones, and second, the nature of Eaton's death. Like too many of our youth, he was senselessly killed in a tit-for-tat argument. Folks are rightly concerned that if the wrong person is offended by their taking down the memorial, then such action could spur more violence directed either at an individual or business in the area.

Personally, I think this makeshift memorial has long outlasted its usefulness in its current form. This isn't to say that no such memorial to Eaton should ever be placed here, and I freely admit that I have no comparison to the depths of grief that Eaton's loved ones must still be experiencing. But something that looks like this no longer pays respects to Haywood nor does it help the community. So what to do?

Ideally, the family and other loved ones of Haywood Eaton would remove these items on their own. That way if anything has sentimental value to someone, it would not be taken down and disposed of by anyone else. And then nobody would accuse people of disrespecting anyone's memory. The family could even contact Sherman Associates to see what kind of more subtle memorial the property owner might be willing to allow.

If that doesn't happen, then either the property owner or the city should remove these items, and soon. If the family and friends of Eaton, and those who placed these items here initially, don't clean things up, then somebody's got to be the bad guy.

How long do we allow such memorials to stay up? Who takes care of them? And most importantly, what do we do as a community so that these don't even need to go up in the first place?

Yet Another Shooting At The Notorious Hawthorn (Sic) Crossings Strip Mall From Hell...

Photo and blog post by John Hoff

Today word came by phone from a friend who told me of police and crime scene tape on Bryant Ave. N. and West Broadway Ave, the very spot which had been taped up after the murder of Haywood Eaton not so long ago, click here. By the time I got there only a single remnant of the tape remained, but I know that street well enough to realize the tape was fresh, not leftover from the previous shooting.

No information could be obtained from bystanders--heck, I walked into one store and nobody seemed to actually be there working, even when I yelled "HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO." I could have walked off with a new pair of shoes but, well, I didn't and (for the record) I prefer used shoes from the Salvation Army. More environmental, you know.

Tonight I managed to find out from the Star Tribune what happened at Broadway and Bryant Ave. N.

"A man was shot at least once in the back in Minneapolis about 1 p.m. Sunday at Broadway Avenue W. and Bryant Avenue. The man, who is in his 20s, suffered a non-life-threatening injury, said Minneapolis spokesman Sgt. William Palmer. The victim did not provide suspect information, Palmer said. The motive is unknown."

This comes just a day after I posted the incredible 911 data for that area, click here. What's really amazing is how few calls there actually are. If a person sat and watched from a concealed vantage point and just called 911 over and over, it would be possible to rack up--by my reckoning--about ten times the calls. But the area is so full of thugs and dubious doubtful so-called businesses, there really isn't a good observation point like that.

Some places you want to make a plea for more police, but in the case of Hawthorn (sic) Crossings, you have to wonder if, really, maybe what we need are National Guard troops.

(Do not click "Read More")

Hennepin County Attorney Keeps Busy With North, Northeast Crime...

Stock Photo By John Hoff

Recently, while trying to flesh out a blog post about Edgar Barrientos--a convicted murderer whose arrest was featured on an episode of A&E's "The First 48"--I found myself on the County Attorney's website, looking at an alphabetical list of recent criminal complaints, click here for the site.

To my delight, I was able to pull up numerous criminal complaints which involved cracking down on North and Northeast Minneapolis crime, including the shooting of Haywood Eaton (pictured above) and emergency assistance fraud where some North Minneapolis addresses were involved. The complaints were not brief summaries, but images of the original documents.

I had to wonder why I'd never been to this site before, since it was so useful, but then I noticed the site was turning up relatively low Google rankings when I was searching for "Edgar Barrientos."

I thought it would be informative to go through the long alphabetical list of criminal complaints and pull out some interesting cases which are North and Northeast Minneapolis related...


It should be noted most of the crime documented in the online criminal complaints is NOT from North and Northeast. All of Hennepin County is represented, including suburbs.

So here we go, not quite in alphabetical order.

First, YOLANDA WILLIAMS was (allegedly) involved in welfare assistance theft, and several of the addresses used--fraudulently used, it appears, and not actually OWNED by fraudsters--were in North Minneapolis. Yolanda Williams was an insider, working for Hennepin County. Click here for a copy of her indictment. Another of the Hennepin County insiders was FELECIA BELL, click here for her complaint document. Yet another names AARON MAURICE SHAW II, click here for the complaint document.

It appears something of a "house cleaning" has been going on with Hennepin County. A Buildings Operations Manager named ANGELA MARIE BENNETT-DWANYEN was charged for claiming more than 500 hours of work time in which she allegedly wasn't working, click here for the paperwork. Also, the employee of a contractor working for Hennepin County--Scott Oldenburg--was charged for allegedly stealing phone equipment, click here for complaint document.

If I had to take a guess about how things went down in Hennepin County, I'd say that somewhere along the line somebody was accused of wrongdoing, and began spilling the beans on others...and that caused a whole chain of fraud and deceit to unravel.

Moving on from the "Hennepin County insiders" to other crime...

The criminal complaint against DENNELL "L'IL DON" RAY MALONE, JR. in the shooting of Haywood Eaton contains little information NOT already found in the media, except for the fact no less than six witnesses fingered Malone from a photo lineup. The criminal complaint was made before Malone was in custody. Click here for the criminal complaint. Malone took a plea and has already been found guilty in the shooting, so maybe it's safe to buy a burger again at the Burger King next to the notorious drug-infested Hawthorn (sic) Crossings strip mall.

Then again, maybe not.

CHRISTOPHER DINEAA BAHTUOH, A.K.A. "FAT CHRIS, killed a Roosevelt High School varsity basketball player named Kyle Parker. Click here for the criminal complaint. This shooting was featured on A&E's "First 48 Hours" in the episode called "Heart of Gold/Last Breath."

It was EDGAR BARRIENTOS who started me off on this whole search. Here is a copy of his criminal complaint, click here. Additional info not found in the media to date include gritty details of the melee of bullets, and the fact Barrientos--in his mid-20s--dated a girl of high school age who attended Roosevelt High School. The main connection with North Minneapolis is the fact Barrientos' attorney, Ben Myers, is a colorful, pitiable character from the Jordan Neighborhood.

JEFFREY ROBERT CHOSA is a resident of Northeast Minneapolis (2542 Polk Street NE) who was allegedly involved in a stupid and violent beating over $20 worth of alcohol which resulted in the death of the beating victim. Click here for a copy of his criminal complaint. A relative of Chosa--FRANKLIN ANTHONY CHOSA--was also involved and has his own charges, click here.

CURTIS LARRY COLEMAN was involved in a classic example of thug crime. In a dispute over ownership of a freezer, he ordered his pit bull named "Lucy" to attack the victim. The attack happened at 2222 McNair Avenue, which is in North Minneapolis, click here for the criminal complaint. It should come as no surprise this property is owned by notorious slumlord Gregge K. Johnson, who has been mentioned on this blog a number of times, and undoubtedly will be mentioned again. Gregge Johnson apparently has a propensity for taking in tenants who set their pit bulls loose on people. This event sounds eerily similar to the notorious incident at 1716 26th Ave. N., which set off the 2002 "gang house riot."

Curtis Coleman might be the thug with the pit bull, but it's Gregge Johnson who needs to be in jail.

Moving on from there...

ANTONIO RASHAUN DALE, a.k.a. "TROUBLE," last resided at 3718 Washburn Ave. N. In an altercation at Blondie's Bar in Brooklyn Park, "Trouble" shot and killed Romel Jones, Jr., whose nickname is "Bullet." Click here for the criminal complaint. One can't help but feel something like this was predestined when these thugs got their nicknames.

GEORGE WATKINS was charged with the murder of Jamis Marks in a Robbinsdale home invasion, an incident which received extensive media coverage. Watkins was found not guilty by a jury. Watkins was a resident of North Minneapolis, residing at 1127 Humbolt Ave. N. The property is owned by Amalgamated Gent Concern, LLC, a name which turns up as the owner of a troublesome property at 751 Tyler Street in Northeast Minneapolis, click here for more info.

Watkins was charged with false imprisonment and terroristic threats, click here for criminal complaint. An associate of Watkins named ARTHUR FIELDS is charged with witness tampering and terroristic threats. Both incidents appear to be associated with a woman whose initials are "J.H.," who was reportedly a witness against Watkins.

The other alleged person allegedly involved in the Jamis Marks murder, click here for criminal complaint, was Keith Merchand Hemphill, whose address is 2653 Lyndale Ave. N., Apt. 102. (It should be noted 2653 Lyndale Ave. N. is a condemned building. It was condemned April 10, 2009. The owner is Steven J. Gotham. Interestingly, Gotham's name turns up on another Hawthorne Neighborhood property, a vacant lot at 2826 Bryant Ave. N., which has now gone into tax forfeiture.

GILBERTO HERRERA GONZALEZ resides at 1631 Sheridan Ave. N., a property which appears to be homesteaded by a relative with the same last name. Gonzalez is accused of raping a 3-year-old female and--based on the criminal complaint, click here--the evidence appears overwhelmingly solid.

PIERRE LAVONTAE GRAY is accused of second degree murder of a child. Basically, he beat his own daughter to death for urinating on herself, ALLEGEDLY. Click here for the criminal complaint. Gray's address was 412 Madison St. NE, a property where the taxpayer is listed as MDC 2000 Investments, Inc. and the taxpayer is a Doug A. Wahl. (Notably, the criminal complaint lists his address as "Madison Ave. NE" but that address does not appear to exist. It is assumed the address is, in fact, 412 Madison St. NE)

CAMERON JAMAL GRAY shot a man in the guts in a dispute over basketball, allegedly. The shooting happened in Northeast, in a park located at 1615 Pierce Street Northeast. Cameron Gray resided in North Minneapolis at 1215 Queen Ave. N. Click here for the criminal complaint.

MELISSA KATHLEEN HEUS was charged with criminal vehicular homicide, click here for the criminal complaint. She has already been convicted, click here for news coverage. Her residence was in Northeast, at 1839 Monroe St. NE, #1.

WILLIAM LEON LANE, a.k.a. "BIT-BIT," is accused of shooting and killing a man in the alley behind 1411 Plymouth Ave. N. (The victim and car turned up at 1416 11th Ave. N.) Luckily, "Bit-Bit" had a unique nickname, and officers managed to find him and charge him with the murder, click here for the criminal complaint. Also, "Bit-Bit" is not from North Minneapolis, even though he shot a man here. (Allegedly) "Bit-Bit" came to North Minneapolis from his residence in Plymouth, Minnesota to do his nasty deeds. (Allegedly)

RICHARD LOFTUS was allegedly involved in some kind of elaborate theft-by-swindle against his own wife and friends, click here for the criminal complaint, and his address is listed as 3711 Washburn Ave., but the swindle apparently didn't take place in North or Northeast Minneapolis.

SOBHY MEHRAT is charged with "going Lennie Chism" while operating a motor vehicle, driving aggressively and erratically while a female identified as "M.M." was trying to exit the vehicle, managing to damage 9 cars and a shopping cart coral. Allegedly. Click here for the criminal complaint. The alleged bumper car spree happened at the Cub Foods in Crystal, Minnesota, but Mehrat's residence is 4047 Bryant Ave. N.

BRIAN JEFFREY MILLER is accused of getting into some kind of stupid altercation and killing another guy with a knife, click here for the criminal complaint. Miller's residence is 2946 Ulysses Street, which the indictment misspells as "Ulyssess." For some reason, the indictment says the murder happened at the "1000 Block of Lowry Ave. NE" instead of giving a specific address.

PIERRE ROMEL MILLER was allegedly involved in the September 28, 2009 shooting which happened at a car wash in Northeast, click here for a link about that. Here is Miller's criminal complaint, click here. Miller is listed as "homeless" on the indictment, the only instance I saw of that. Kelvin Roberts was also allegedly involved in the murder, according to an account in the media, but no copy of the Kelvin Roberts indictment is currently on the Hennepin Country Attorney website.

EMILY ANN ROITENBERG lives in the North Loop Neighborhood--in a very expensive loft building, as a matter of fact, at 730 North 4th Street, No. 607--and wanted to inherit a large sum of money by having her mother-in-law whacked, click here for the criminal complaint.

CONNIE ANN STROUD was involved in a high-profile drunk driving crash in North Minneapolis--near the 49th Avenue North ramp--which caused a pregnant woman to lose her baby. Here is media coverage of the incident. Click here for a copy of the criminal complaint.

GARY VUE was indicted and ultimately convicted in a cold case; the July 10, 2001 "mistaken identity" gang shooting of a guy named Za Xiong, who was found dead in a vehicle at 3610 Humboldt Avenue North. Here is a media account about Vue's conviction, click here. Here is the criminal complaint document, click here.

RICARDO RYDALE WALKER was allegedly involved in the thuggish shooting of another thug at an apartment building located on the 3700 block of Girard Avenue North, click here for the criminal complaint. Walker's address was 2954 Oliver Avenue North, Apartment 1. The building is owned by a Jorge Morales Heyser of Rochester, Minnesota.

It should be noted only a small percent of the criminal complaints handled by the Hennepin County Attorney are posted on this website.

If you want to look up criminal records, a great source is http://www.mncourts.gov.

JNS BLOG EXCLUSIVE: More About Denell Malone, Haywood Eaton...

Photos From the MySpace profile of Nichael Williams, currently on a public setting, 

published under First Amendment "fair comment and criticism." 

Pictured above, (top photo) image of unknown person on the MySpace profile of Nichael Williams, identified in image caption as "The Don." Middle photo was found with the first photo. THE IDENTITY OF THE INDIVIDUALS IN THESE TWO PHOTOS IS UNCONFIRMED. Denell Malone, the alleged killer of Haywood Eaton was known as "Little Don" but the individual in the photo also resembles Haywood Eaton. Bottom photo is a "tribute photo" to Haywood Eaton found on the same MySpace page. 

(This post was revised to reflect continuing uncertainty about the identity of the individual in the top two photos) 

Denell Ray Malone, Jr., who is believed to be the son and namesake of notorious imprisoned gang member Dennell Malone, (click here for more details and be sure to read the comments, as well) is accused of the brazen daylight shooting of Haywood Eaton.

According to details found only in a Fox 9 story, click here, Haywood's girlfriend Nichael Williams was at the wheel of a vehicle belonging to former boyfriend Marshawn Stevens. Haywood Eaton was in the vehicle, a green Tahoe.

Marshawn Stevens and Haywood Eaton were in a confrontation over the use of the green Tahoe by Williams while Haywood was in the vehicle. The confrontation grew to a fight involving a number of young men.

Other news reports paint a picture of...

...bystanders at the dirty and crime-ridden Hawthorn Crossings strip mall / open air drug market running to see the exciting fight, including a 15-year-old boy who dragged a 4-year-old girl there by the hand from the McDonalds restaurant.

Accused shooter Denell Malone--whose name is spelled with one "n" while his father's name has two--reportedly pulled up his shirt to display a pistol. Then Malone ran behind the Burger King, pulled his shirt up over his face, and came out shooting. Based on news video of a wadded up garment left at the scene, JNS blog believes the shirt to be a "long plain white tee."

Malone allegedly fired at least four times, hitting not only his intended target but also the 15-year-old, who was trying to run away at that point. The 15-year-old was hit in the back and ran to the McDonalds at Hawthorn Crossings strip mall. Based on the fact the 15-year-old had broken ribs (plural) JNS blog speculates the weapon was at least a .38 caliber, and not merely a .22 caliber pistol.

The naming of names by Fox 9 creates opportunities for the blogosphere to ferret out additional information in this high-profile crime.

Nichael Williams maintains a MySpace page, click here, which as of this moment is set to "public." She has changed her profile name to "R.I.P. Haywood Baaay Im missin u like crazy" in tribute to Haywood. Information on her profile and pieced together from news reports would lead to the conclusion that Marshawn Stevens is the father of Williams' first child. Information on Williams' Myspace page would lead one to conclude she is currently pregnant with Haywood Eaton's child.

In contrast to the "nice young man" photo featured on some news reports about Eaton, click here for an example, the "tribute picture" on Williams' MySpace page shows a young man flashing a gang sign.

The images (suspected to be) of Denell "Little Don" Malone are even more disturbing, as he flashes a gang sign in front of a poster for the movie "Scarface" with Al Pacino, click here for an example of the content of that movie.

This morning, JNS blog has been repeatedly and emphatically asked not to publish this information by an individual concerned about my safety.

It is the position of JNS blog that the revitalization efforts in NoMi can only go forward if revitalizers are unafraid to speak the truth, openly and in detail, about (for example) a true picture of daily conditions at the drug and gang-infested Hawthorn Crossings strip mall. Denell "Little Don" Malone, Jr. and Haywood Eaton are part of that picture, and it should be an accurate and detailed picture, not distorted by funereal sentimentality or denial about the life of Haywood Eaton or, for that matter, Denell Malone, Jr.

JNS is alive today. God willing, I will be alive tomorrow, and the next day. I will be alive two weeks from now. I will be uninjured, unafraid, and I will speak the unvarnished truth about what goes on in my neighborhood and how decent people fight a daily battle to turn our neighborhood around and how--despite periodic setbacks of gang members killing gang members--we are making incredible progress.

OK. Do the comments thing now.

Anyone With Information On The Haywood Eaton Murder Is Asked To Call Minneapolis Police At 612-692-8477

Photos By John Hoff

The headline is a Johnny Northside Dot Com public service announcement.

(Do not click "Read More")

Images, One Dead Near Hawthorn Crossings Strip Mall...

Photos By John Hoff, Megan Goodmundson, or Alex Hoff

I figured it would be an education in "crime does not pay" for my 12-year-old son to see a crime scene during today's every-other-weekend visitation. How often does my kid witness something like this in his suburb?

Besides, Alex noticed some interesting details and took a couple good pictures. This next photo...

...shows the police talking to a woman who was apparently a relative of the murder victim, Haywood Eaton. The photographer made a deliberate effort to obscure the woman's face with the tree branches. The next photo, which I took, shows the woman in the back of a squad car.




The last photo shows police conferring about the crime scene. Several hours later, there was nothing to mark the short, tragic life of Haywood Eaton except some flowers and two Mylar balloons at the spot where he laid dead on the sidewalk, and a trash can full to overflowing with crime scene tape.




Don't be surprised if there is soon a JNS editorial about how problems at Hawthorn Crossings strip mall have gone on for too long, in plain sight, despite being repeatedly brought to the attention of public officials and how, clearly, this is a wake up call to finally clean up this blighted high-crime area of open air drug dealing.