Community leaders, Mayor Frey express anger over New Year's Eve killing of 28-year-old mother

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Community leaders from the Safe Street Coalition gathered Friday in front of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s office to express frustrations over the recent killing of a 28-year-old mother.

Monique Baugh was shot and killed in an alley near the 1300 block of Russell Avenue North on New Year’s Eve. A 41-year-old man was arrested Friday in connection to the murder.

Community members expressed their anger over the recent killings during a press conference prior to a meeting with the mayor.

“I’m telling you that takes a coward to take a mother, to take a daughter, to take a sister, to take a niece away from her family," said Alicia Smith with Safe Streets Minnesota. "That is completely unacceptable and disgusting. Whoever you are, you need to turn yourself in. The community will talk. We’ve had enough. This was the straw that has broken the camel’s back."

The suspect's brother also spoke out against the killing.

“It’s time for everyone to step up and do the right thing, and to stop glorifying the street," he said. "There’s no glory in a young lady being lured out and murdered. She had children.”

He learned his brother had been arrested as the suspect after the press conference. He then released a statement saying he stands by his words at the press conference.

"If my brother is guilty, he needs to be prosecuted," he said in the statement on Facebook. "If he is innocent, he needs to be set free. I have never condoned the murder of women and children. I don't support Black on Black crime. I also won't be an enabler of crime to anyone. My condolences to the Baugh family and the entire community. I have been tired of these murders and everyone kin to me know how I feel, and it won't change. We can't kill our own and expect change."

Mayor Frey also joined members in expressing his anger during the press conference.  

“This was not just some random person. We don’t have random people; we don’t have random deaths in the city of Minneapolis. This was somebody’s mother. This was a business woman. This was a community leader. This kind of violence, it has no place in the city of Minneapolis and is absolutely unacceptable,” Frey said.

The case remains open and active.