Minneapolis authorities notified Como and Marcy-Holmes neighborhood residents Thursday that a sex offender has moved into their community.
The offender, Wil Isaiah Killian, was recently released from state prison for sexual assault convictions with both male and female minors, according to police officials.
Killian is considered a Level 3 sex offender by the Minnesota Department of Corrections. Level 3 sex offenders are considered most likely to reoffend.
Being informed about sex offenders helps families protect themselves and their loved ones, said John Hinchliff, the Minneapolis community sex offender notification coordinator.
“Notification lifts the veil of secrecy that most offenders would rather have,” Hinchliff said.
Killian served his complete sentence in prison and therefore will not be stringently monitored now that he has been released, Hinchliff said.
Killian will need to register as a sex offender until September 2018.
Some community members came out to protest Killian’s move to their community.
Dee Harris said she did not want an offender in her neighborhood.
“We have our grandchildren coming on the weekends, and you’re going to hate having them out of the house now,” she said.
Carolyn Presley, a University laboratory technician, said the community meeting did not make her feel better about having a sex offender living nearby.
“In a way, it made me more anxious,” Presley said. “I can’t say that I feel safer, but I’m glad to be aware that a person like that is living near my house.”
In addition to providing community members with information about Killian, residents were told how to better protect their families from becoming victims of sex crimes.
Hinchliff suggested that residents monitor their children’s outdoor activity and their Internet activity, because some sexual predators use the Internet to search for victims.
Single mothers and children who are 15 or 16 years old have become a major source of victims for offenders, he said.
“This is something that is coming up over and over again,” he said. “It’s almost epidemic.”
Hinchliff told residents they must watch their children and report suspicious activity in their neighborhoods to police.
Of the 12,800 sex offenders in the state, approximately 1,700 live in Minneapolis, Hinchliff said.