Minneapolis gang violence: Court docs shed light on Dinkytown, Uptown shootings
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A federal complaint unsealed this week in a drug case is shedding new light on violence in Minneapolis linked to gangs, including a deadly double shooting at a Dinkytown smoke shop last December.
The new details are included in a criminal complaint for a drug case against an alleged Lows gang member. In that case, Ramone Djzahn Jackson faces five counts of distributing fentanyl and three weapons charges in the indictment unsealed this week.
As the complaint details, the investigation into Jackson began after a shooting outside a Brooklyn Park apartment complex where about 50 rounds were fired in late November. Law enforcement officers learned through informants that the incident was a shootout between members of the Highs and Lows gang.
Days later, on December 3, the complaint says two known Lows gang members were the victims of a shooting at the Royal Cigar & Tobacco smoke shop in Dinkytown.
In that shooting, 24-year-old Michael Jamartre Sanders and 24-year-old Lamarr Bryson Haskell were killed after what police called an "altercation between two groups of customers" inside the store near 4th Street and 14th Avenue Southeast.
Just this week, Maleek Jabril Conley was arrested on murder charges in the shooting. A criminal complaint filed in December identifies Conley as a member of the "Crazi Boyz" street gang while also identifying the victims as Lows gang members.
Conley faces two counts of murder in the case.
The federal criminal complaint against Jackson also connects him to a shooting in Uptown on December 3. During that shooting, authorities say Jackson was again with Lows gang members when one of Jackson's associates was shot in the head.
Jackson is currently in Sherburne County Jail being held on the federal charges.
Gangs of Minneapolis
Last year, federal authorities launched a crackdown to take on gangs in Minneapolis.
During that effort, we learned generally about the gang ecosystem in the city.
Three larger, overarching gangs operate in Minneapolis: the Highs, the Lows, and the Bloods. The Highs and Lows both mostly operate in north Minneapolis, divided by Broadway. The Highs have been in business since 2008 and congregate in crime hotspots near West Broadway and Lyndale. The Bloods have been around in Minneapolis for decades, operating mostly in south Minneapolis.
Each gang has "subsets" or smaller neighborhood gangs that operate within the larger hierarchy.
In May 2023, federal authorities busted 45 gang members, mostly Highs and Bloods members. In August, 14 more gang members were arrested in a drug bust.