Deadly Cases: Minneapolis Police Scrutiny | Twin Cities Hit with $600M Losses

Yeah, I might want to download that Exxon Mobile Rewards Plus app. Yeah. Are you the Exxon Tiger? I am. Yeah, you know, new users can earn $10 and points, five bucks after your first purchase and five after your second. That's a lot. That's a whole lot. It is. Well, hey, you get on that download, buddy. I will. Loading. Download the Exxon Mobile Rewards Plus app and join today. Exxon. Trust the Tiger. For details, visit Exxonoffer.com. So good, so good, so good. New summer arrivals are at Nordstrom rack stores now. Get ready to save big with up to 60% off brands like Rag and Bone, Levi's, Adidas, and free people. Join the Nordy Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. You're listening to Four Things to Know, a WCCO Daily News podcast. Today is Wednesday, April 22nd. I'm Johnny Connor. Thanks for listening to Four Things to Know. Let's go ahead and get to our top story today. Two high-profile police investigations in the city of Minneapolis. The city is looking into how officers handled both of those investigations since they are both under immense scrutiny. One of those cases is the shooting of Davis Maturi. You may remember he was shot outside his home in 2024 after a dispute with his neighbor. Record show Maturi filed nearly 20 complaints with Minneapolis police against the accused shooter before the shooting. Maturi says those calls went unanswered. The other case involves the death of 47-year-old Allison Lusher. She was found dead inside her North Loop apartment in 2024. Investigators say Lusher had suffered a head injury and had fentanyl and methamphetamine in her system. However, the medical examiner could not determine an official cause of death. There is a history of domestic violence reports from Luscher against her boyfriend, which her family believes police did not take seriously. So today, the Minneapolis City Council had a meeting to share their reviews of both of those cases. It comes as police chief Ryan O'Hara seeks his second term. The After Action Review found 15 issues with the Maturi case, 22 with Lusher's. I want to tell you about some of those findings, first in the Maturi case, where again, he was shot by his neighbor after Maturi called 911 to report his neighbor was harassing him. In that case, the review found that officers did not have a full understanding of applicable laws, policies, and resources available. They also found there was a communication breakdown between Chief Brian O'Hara and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty. We have reporters at the meeting today. We will be digging into Lucier's case as well. You can certainly look for those updates online and on WCCO TV tonight. Number two today, Minnesota's 87 counties are certainly unique, but they're also united by just one thing. That's outdated technology.

And in some cases, the programs the government uses dates back to the 1980s. One of the programs is called Maxis that was created back in 1989. County governments across the state still use it to enroll hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans in SNAP, also known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance. Dakota County is one of those. WCCO watched the tedious process, which involved entering the same information multiple times and needs dozens of special code. A program training specialist told us the outdated system is prone to human error, which can certainly lead to problems, one of them being overpaid benefits. There is a push at the state capitals to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on updates. We spoke with Matt Hilgard, who works in the Minnesota Association of Counties. At a certain point, the ship has too many holes in it to keep afloat. We need to replace it instead of just patching our way through this. If the state does not take action, Minnesotans could wind up paying more in property taxes. And we're going to have more on that part of the story, how it could affect your wallet tonight on WCCO News. Your third thing to know today, we know the ice surge costs Twin Cities' businesses major money, and it turns out it cost everyday taxpayers too. WCCO got a hold of a new court filing with those numbers. State and local agencies say they've been forced to spend big and fast without any warning. The surge strained police resources in both Twin Cities and across the metro. And who pays for that overtime for police officers? We all do. Minneapolis Police, for example, they extended 500 shifts and they canceled a thousand vacation days while they dealt with all those calls for help. Researchers from the U.S. Immigration Policy Center in California put the cost into numbers. Take a listen. From January through the end of March, Minneapolis police racked up over $6 million in overtime. And over in St. Paul, their police department spent nearly $5 million directly tied to federal immigration activity between November and February. The surge also canceled conventions during those three months. The Minneapolis Convention Center brings in millions of dollars into the city, and that money is used to help pay for the city's hospitality infrastructure. The filing also notes that that money chips away at the state's tax base as well. So how will the state make up all that money? Well, that's a question that lawmakers will have to figure out. And your fourth thing to know today, Minnesota sports fans like me, super excited because we have a big night on tap in St. Paul. The Wild have an 8.30 start against the Dallas stars tonight in game three of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The series is tied up at one to one, but did Dallas discover anything in game two that could carry over tonight? Will Home Ice be the difference for Minnesota? Plenty of other storylines to follow tonight. And these playoff games, well, we know they certainly write their own story. They can be independent of each other. That's what head coach for the wild John Heinz says.

We went in one game one, and it was a highly contested game two that we didn't come out on top. And now it's just all about game three. It's not for us, it's not so much about, you know, stealing home ice or whatnot. I just think it's the focus of the next game and the preparation and not getting into, you know, what happened in the past. Certainly a big game tonight in St. Paul. It should be a lot of fun, high intensity. Let's hope the Wilds can take a two-to-one series lead. Those are the four things to know today. Let's check it now on our next weather forecast because it's heating up. Hi, next weather meteorologist Lisa Meadows. Heading in tonight, very warm, down to 63 tonight, tomorrow, up to 75 with a chance of showers and storms, some severe storm as possible tomorrow late afternoon and evening. And now here's more to know. New records reveal critical decision-making in the deadly lawmaker attack. The records show law enforcement suspected JD Vance Belter was the assassin about 10 hours before actually releasing his name to the public. WCCO's Connor White has more on what else those documents show. Those 911 logs take us step by step through the Brooklyn Park Police response from the moment officers exchanged fire with the suspect to the moment they recovered Speaker Hortman's body about an hour later. At 3.35 in the morning on June 14th, last year, Brooklyn Park Police arrive at the Hortman's house. Seconds after officers arrive, they say they witnessed Belter shoot someone at the door, an officer fires his weapon. At 3.37 a.m., officers approach the home and recover Mark Hortman. They know the shooter entered the house, but at the this point they have no idea where he ended up. They set up a perimeter and send a drone into the house over the next 10 minutes or so. At 409 in the morning, that drone discovers a woman down on the stairwell. They don't know if she's still breathing and officers still don't know where exactly the shooter ended up. It's only at 4.40 a.m., 31 minutes later, that an emergency response team recovers Speaker Hortman's body. Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley speaking to WCCO Radio says officers did the right thing by not rushing inside. And appropriately, the officers contained the house. There was no indication of movement, no yelling, no noise, and waited for additional resources to arrive. So the chief's response here is essentially that after the flurry of gunshots at the front door, there was silence. The conditions weren't there to prompt officers to sprint inside, he says. Connor also spoke with a use of force expert. His name is Peter Johnson. He works with Archway Defense. Johnson said, quote, the situation would not have warranted an active shooter response because there was not ongoing observable violence. To local politics now, a well-known Minnesota lawmaker made a major revision to her financial disclosure. Congression forms filed for Representative Ilhan Omar originally stated that companies co-owned by her husband, Tim Minette, were worth between $6 million and $30 million. However, Omar's joint assets with her husband are now listed as ranging between $18,000 and $95,000.

The Republican Majority Whip, Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer, responded on social media. And what world is a multi-billion dollar correction to a person's financial disclosure considered normal? WCCO has reached out to Representative Omar's office, along with the House Oversight Committee, and we will let you know when we hear back. Best Buy is getting a new CEO. The Richfield-based electronics company says Corey Bari Weiss will step down this fall and Jason Bonfig will replace her. He is currently the company's chief customer product and fulfillment officer. Barry has been the CEO since 2019. A new law coming to Minnesota has some raising a glass. Governor Tim Walz signed a bill to allow happy hours at nursing homes. Walls says the bill gives more independence and safety to residents while still under clear regulations. The bill itself updates liquor laws to change requirements for places like a nursing home. Cheers to that. Let's get to some sports headlines again. The twins won yesterday. They snapped their own four-game losing streak, but they extended the New York Mets losing streak. Yeah, the Mets have lost a dozen straight baseball games. Isn't that crazy? Just like you buy eggs or roses. Twelve in a row. Twins try to make it 13 tonight. That's a 610 first pitch in New York. The Wolves are off today. Game three tomorrow against Denver is at Target Center, so we get to watch the wild tonight. Wolves tomorrow. That one is also a late tip off tomorrow night. It is at 8.30. It's time to take a breath with your daily bright spot. A three-day fish fry for a good cause starts today. Yeah, of course, we're talking about the Brooklyn Park Lions Smelt Fry. If you heard of it before, it's happening today, tomorrow, and Friday, 430 to 8 o'clock at the Brooklyn Park Community Center and Armory. But it is a bittersweet smelt fry as it could actually be the last. And that's because smelt is getting harder to source and it's making the tradition more difficult. Proceeds will go to providing free eyeglasses for local kids and other charitable causes. I'm Johnny Connor. You've been listening to Four Things to Know. We are here with the news you need every weekday afternoon by 3 o'clock, and you can now watch us on YouTube every day. Thanks so much for listening and watching. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Love podcasts. Love Minnesota. Check out the WCCO Podcast Studio lineup. Here are the top stories of the day with four things to know. Discover top female athletes and teams from around the state on women in sports. Dive in the stories about faith and belief from your local leaders to your neighbors next door with bigger than belief. Stay in the know on the go with the WCCO podcast studio. Go to WCCO.com slash podcasts.

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