This spring marks five years since a tragic series of shootings on the north side of Minneapolis. Three children were hit by stray bullets within weeks of one another.

LaDavionne Garrett Jr., a 10-year-old at the time, was shot and seriously injured in his parents’ car on April 30, 2021. On May 15, 9-year-old Trinity Ottoson-Smith was shot while jumping on a trampoline at a birthday party. Two days later on May 17, 6-year-old Aniya Allen was hit by stray gunfire while riding in her mother’s car. Both girls died.

For Allen’s grandfather KG Wilson, reminders of her are everywhere. “I can see a little girl with her parents and immediately I'll say, ‘she's 6 years old, isn't she?’ And they be like, ‘Wow, how did you know?” he said. “My granddaughter was 6 years old.”

Despite a $180,000 reward for information leading to arrests, only Ottoson-Smith’s case has been solved. Dpree Shareef Robinson pled guilty in her killing in 2023 and was sentenced to 37 1/2 years in prison. Robinson aimed gunfire at three people on a nearby porch, one of whom prosecutors said was part of a rival gang.

Federal prosecutors began targeting Minneapolis gang activity in 2023. They brought charges against more than 100 alleged members of the Highs, Lows and Bloods gangs. Minneapolis Jacob Frey also credits the city’s police department with a decline in crime rates. Frey told reporters recently that shootings in north Minneapolis have hit an “all-time-record low.”

But Wilson fears what happened to Allen could happen to another child.

“They have new gangs now; new gangs with new names and new faces, and they're younger,” he said. “Everything is about get a gun and go and shoot.”

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said the federal prosecutions helped address violence, but he echoed Wilson’s concerns.

“We see more splintered, and what we’d consider, hybrid-type gangs, where there isn’t the hierarchy that we saw in the past,” Evans said. “What makes the community harm so difficult in these situations is so many younger people with easy access to firearms that have simple beefs.”

The silence in his granddaughter’s case has weighed on Wilson, who worked for years to prevent gun violence in north Minneapolis and support grieving families.

“It was hard for me to stay in Minneapolis and and be around people who probably know what happened, who did what they did, and not have some compassion, even for somebody who probably had been there for them,” he said.

Wilson retreated from community work and moved to St. Paul. When he visits the neighborhood, he said he feels like he reminds people of the harm caused to three children in 2021.

Evans said the investigations into Allen’s and Garrett Jr.’s cases remain open and the reward offer stands.

“Sometimes rewards aren’t always what brings it across the finish line. It could be changes in allegiances or it could just be, somebody grows up and they realize the right thing to do is provide the information now,” Evans said.

Wilson has started to feel a shift in his own feelings about that spring. He plans to return to community work in St. Paul.

“I believe that's what she would want me to do, because that's the grandfather that she remembers and she loved, he said. “I think she wouldn't want me to be just sitting angry.”

Wilson plans to gather with loved ones and community members at Lakewood Cemetery on Monday, May 18 to remember his granddaughter.

For anyone with information on Allen and Garret Jr.’s cases you can call the BCA at 651-793-7000, email [email protected] or anonymously report a tip by downloading the See It Say It Send It app.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation with Wilson and Superintendent Evans.

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Collected from Minnesota Public Radio News. View original source here.