Officials advise residents in the Como, Marcy-Holmes and Prospect Park areas to lock all doors and windows. A local burglar is still at large.
Residents experienced 31 burglaries in March and April, said Nicole Magnan, a crime prevention specialist for the Minneapolis Police Department. Official statistics on area burglaries in May are not yet available.
Police have one suspect for many of the crimes. Crime alerts and police reports describe the suspect as a 32-year-old black man, who is 5 feet 11 inches tall.
He prefers to hit multiple-unit dwellings like boarding houses and apartments, Magnan said, though she couldn’t speculate as to why.
She said he doesn’t break in, but rather looks for open doors and windows. When confronted, he says he is looking for someone in the building.
In other police news:
ù An unidentified suspect struck a Wrecker Service Inc. tow truck with a car in lot C43, behind Sanford Hall and attempted to run down two bystanders, according to University Police reports.
Wrecker Service driver Randall Patrick Larson refused to comment on the incident. University Police did not return multiple phone calls and Sgt. Joe May refused to comment.
As Larson began towing the suspect’s vehicle May 18, the suspect somehow crashed into the tow truck and then tried to strike Larson and a bystander, according to the report.
Police charged the suspect, whom police reports did not identify, with assault with a deadly weapon and obstructing the legal process. Police impounded the car and placed a hold on it.
ù The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office identified the body of a man pulled from the Mississippi River near campus May 5.
Officials identified the man as Craig Guth, 43, from Minneapolis. Mike Opitz, an investigator in the examiner’s office, said they used finger prints and dental records after Guth’s parents called looking for him.
“They said their son had been missing for about the same amount of time (since the body was found),” Opitz said.
He added that the body was in the river for several weeks. While the cause of death is still unknown, Opitz said he is ruling out foul play.
ù University thieves didn’t take Memorial Day weekend off.
While Coffman Union lay dormant over the extended weekend, an unknown suspect broke into La Raza Student Cultural Center, stole a videocassette recorder and attempted to steal a television set.
The thief broke in through a window connected to the outside terrace that was left cracked open over the weekend, said University Police Lt. Steve Johnson.
Coffman officials reported the VCR missing Monday. The thief also tried to take a 27-inch television, but left it behind after dropping and breaking it in the hallway.
Nothing else was broken in the incident.
“Anybody could have gone in the window,” Johnson said. “Anyone with a ground-floor window should make sure the window is secured, especially on a holiday weekend.”
Johnson said there are no suspects.
The police report said the television was worth $800. An official from La Raza said the center has no insurance for the stolen and damaged goods, but has plans to replace them anyway.
