Danger Downtown

Last Friday, a Duluth woman experienced an all too common close call at Fond-Du-Luth Casino in Downtown Duluth.  As she was leaving the casino around 10 pm, she shared that she “was nearly robbed of [her] purse” in the parking lot on the 2nd-floor ramp, adjacent to the building.   She explained in a Facebook post, “There were 2 people, I believe, working together.  One in the 2nd Floor landing of the parking ramp, elevator, and stairway, the other was crouched down by the passenger side of my car.  The area was out of my view because my vehicle was parked at a 30-degree angle.”

When the woman got into her vehicle, she immediately locked her door, a habit that may have saved her life, and certainly her belongings.   She said, “At that very second, after locking my doors, the second criminal stood up and tried to open the passenger door.  Luckily for me, I was locked in.  I backed up my vehicle and he/she followed alongside my car on foot.”

Were the attackers after her purse, her life, or her vehicle? 

Just a month ago, a man carjacked a woman and her teenage son from a grocery store in Pike Lake just outside of Duluth, traveling several miles before abandoning them in a parking lot and running to a wooded area where police cornered him, and he was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

There has been a huge uptick in carjacking in the past few months.  The Pioneer Press reported that there were 14 carjackings in the last week in the Twin Cities metro.  KARE 11 reported that Minneapolis had 405 carjackings in 2020, an increase of over 300% from the previous year.

The crime and violence that was once contained in news headlines from the Twin Cities are appearing more frequently in the Northland.  Last year the City of Duluth saw a record number of shootings, stories from terrified citizens who have been harassed downtown, had homeless people banging on their car windows while in intersections, and just today the Duluth Police Department has been in a 16+ hour stand-off related to a domestic violence incident at 23^rd West and 4^th St, resulting in the shooting death of K9 Luna. 

Danger is lurking in Duluth, especially in and around Downtown.  The woman who narrowly escaped her attackers said in her post “The Duluth Police Department cannot do anything about it, but I was advised to tell all my friends.”  

Until the City of Duluth gets serious about addressing the interconnected issues of homelessness, drugs, and crime, predominately downtown – it is up to us to take precautions not only in dangerous areas but throughout the city.   The woman from the casino incident offers this advice, “ask for an escort to your vehicle, do not go alone, if you can, call 911, and only unlock your driver door instead of all 4 doors, then immediately lock yourself in. 

Other tips to remain safe is to know your surroundings, when you know you won’t return to your car until after dark try to park close to the entrance/exit of your destination, or in a lighted area.  If you see any items attached to your vehicle ignore them until you can get to a safe place then remove them.  Some attackers use flyers under wipers, or items zip-tied to parts of your vehicle as a distraction to keep you outside of your vehicle.

These tips won’t do anything to end the crime in town, though.  So perhaps the most important thing we can do is contact our city council representatives and demand they make ending the criminal activity growing in our area a priority: