Winston Smith is the protagonist of Orwell’s 1984. He is not to be confused with Winston Boogie Smith. According to CrimeWatchMpls, Winston Boogie Smith is the reported decedent in the police involved shooting at the top of the parking ramp adjacent to Calhoun Square in the heart of Minneapolis’s Uptown neighborhood.
Smith (if it was Smith) was the target of an arrest operation that went down in the heart of Minneapolis yesterday afternoon. John wrote about the shooting last night here. I offer these notes based on preliminary reports subject to correction assuming Smith was the target of the arrest operation.
• A joint law enforcement task force conducted the arrest operation.
• The arrest operation was led by the United States Marshals Service. The Marshals Service is a federal law enforcement agency.
• The arrest operation included other local Twin Cities law enforcement agencies including the Hennepin County Sheriffs office.
• The Minneapolis Police Department was not part of the arrest operation.
• Smith was wanted for being a felon illegally in possession of a firearm. I have not seen the warrant in any news report.
• Smith was trapped in his vehicle by officers at the top of the parking ramp. He was in the company of a lady friend.
• Smith pulled a gun on the officers.
• Numerous shots were fired. I assume officers from more than one of the agencies took him down.
• Smith was out on parole subject to a partially stayed prison sentence. He was sentenced to 48 months in October 2018 for first degree aggravated robbery in Hennepin County District Court. Three years of Smith’s sentence was stayed by Judge Jay Quam.
• “Ima Shoot Back,” “I Ain’t Going With My Hand Up,’ Smith bragged on social media in September 2019.
• Smith’s social media posts suggest his inspiration by the death of the sainted George Floyd.
• Smith’s lady friend survived the incident, though she may have sustained minor injuries.
• Reports of the operation occasioned the obligatory “unrest,” i.e., rioting vandalism, and looting.
• Minneapolis police used flash-bangs to break up victims of unrest, a/k/a looters, vandals, and rioters causing damage to stores and property.
• As of early Friday, Minneapolis police did not have the number of arrests that were made throughout the night.”
• There is more “unrest” to come.
Oh, another guy who would still be alive if our criminal justice system wasn't completely effed up.
Smith was sentenced to 48 month in prison in Oct. 2018 but his sentence was STAYED by Judge Jay Quam.
HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN PRISON.#MNLEG #MNSEN do something!!!
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. pic.twitter.com/mpSDLVHAxc— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) June 4, 2021
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