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Brooklyn Park man dead, woman injured in shootings

Last update: October 25, 2008 - 9:03 PM

A Brooklyn Park woman was in serious condition Saturday after police answered a domestic-assault call and found her shot and a man dead.

Police didn't release any names or many details about the incident, other than to report that officers went to the duplex in the 7900 block of Kyle Av. N. about 2:30 a.m. Saturday after a female caller reported a man with a gun in the house.

Officers found the woman in a basement bedroom, the man upstairs. Five children between the ages of infant and 15 also were in the home. They were taken to a safe location, police said.

Neighbor Nakarria Garner said the couple was not married, but had been together for years. The female shooting victim was Garner's godmother, whom she affectionately knew as "Jena." She said both the victims had been out at a nightclub and arrived home when a fight somehow broke out. The man was angry, she said, but she didn't know why.

"It's all just really sad," Garner said before a relative called her inside.

"They were good neighbors, quiet people, they didn't bother anybody," said Lisa Wytt as she played with her kids in a nearby front yard. "She'd go to work, she was a good lady. I pray to God she pulls through."

Family members who came in and out of the duplex Saturday afternoon declined to comment on the family or the woman's condition.

A nursing supervisor at North Memorial Medical Center said the woman was in serious condition. She said the woman had undergone surgery Saturday morning.

As she ushered her children into a vehicle, Joan Eggert said the shooting is another sign of increasing crime in the area that has left her concerned.

"It's scary, it really is," she said. "Even if it was domestic, the thing is, it still happened." Eggert said. "Just the thought of it happening so close to where you live."

But Wytt and her mother, a block captain known among neighbors as "Grandmama," said that, though tragic, knowing that the situation likely wasn't random is somewhat of a relief.

"It's sad, but it helps to know it wasn't a random break-in," Wytt said. "Then there's no reason to be scared."

ABBY SIMONS

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