March 2, 2002: Edina High senior killed with stolen gun, police say

Blake Rogers' bedroom was often the gathering place for friends to watch TV, drink pop and sometimes play the stereo too loud.

As his mother, Linda, looked at mail in the living room Tuesday, the Edina High School senior was relaxing with a friend in his room after finishing work at Papa John's pizza about 11 p.m. Minutes later, Jerrett L. Anderson came to the Minneapolis home, toting a stolen and loaded 12-gauge shotgun, police say.

Linda Rogers said that she never saw the weapon, and that since she knew Anderson, she had no reason to believe he would bring harm to the family. Then she heard the shot, and her son's friends ran from the bedroom screaming for her to call 911.

She looked in to see her son lying on the floor with a shotgun wound to his head. According to murder charges filed Friday against Anderson, Blake Rogers was kneeling in front of his stereo to put in a CD when Anderson pointed the gun at him and it fired.

Anderson, 20, of Minneapolis, was charged with second-degree murder and third-degree murder. The more serious charge alleges that he didn't intend to kill Rogers, but that the death happened with a stolen firearm and that Anderson was a felon in possession of a firearm. In September 1998, when Anderson was still a juvenile, he was convicted of second-degree riot. That is classified as a crime of violence and prohibits him from owning a firearm.

Anderson, who turned himself in to police Thursday, is being held at the Hennepin County jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Linda Rogers described the day her son died as a "Joe Average Tuesday." She was sitting 10 feet from her son's bedroom when she heard "the loudest noise of my life."

"I can't get it out of my mind," she said Friday. "The depth of my sadness is something you can't imagine."

Blake Rogers, 18, had a core group of friends, some of whom he'd known since preschool. Many of them knew Anderson, but he didn't hang out with them all the time, Linda Rogers said.

Anderson was always respectful when he walked into her home, and her son never indicated that he had any problems with him, she said.

"My son never had an interest in guns," Rogers said. "Some of his friends have now been telling me they're learning that Anderson had some issues in his life."

According to the complaint, Anderson showed Rogers and the other visitor the shotgun on Tuesday night. Anderson told the others that he had stolen it from someone's home, and all three knew it was loaded, the complaint said. The third man handed the gun back to Anderson, who pointed it at Blake Rogers, the complaint said. He died in the bedroom.

"I really don't remember anything I saw after I heard the shot,"
Linda Rogers said Friday. "It was too horrific.

.

Raised in Linden Hills

She said her son was born in Minneapolis and grew up in their home in the 4400 block of York Av. S. in the Linden Hills neighborhood. In eighth grade he switched to the Edina School District because she believed it would help his education.

He was doing particularly well in school this year, getting A's in subjects such as math and science that had given him trouble, she said. Edina High School Principal Chace Anderson said that he had fond memories of Rogers.

"Blake was particularly funny," his mother said. "He was one of those guys you invited to the party because he was the guy who would be the entertainment."

He loved cars, stereos and music, she said. His parents bought him a 1985 Monte Carlo, but he was told that if anything went wrong he would have to pay for it himself. When the engine needed repair, his friend got him a job at Papa John's about a month ago, Linda Rogers said.

But hanging with his friends meant everything to him. Now and then they stayed out too late and he would be tagged with a curfew violation by police, she said.

Her son would sometimes have so many friends packed into his room that it looked like a clown car, she recalled.

He was a pretty good salesman and hoped to own a car dealership or an electronics store, she said.

"His life was just too short," she said. "Not just for us, but for everybody else who he touched."

Linda and her husband, Russel, haven't been able to bring themselves to return to their home since the shooting.

Rogers' funeral will be held at 2 p.m. today at Werness Brothers Funeral Chapel, W. 50th St. at Beard Av. S. in Minneapolis.
Visitation will begin there at noon.

"The grief will disappear and I will only be filled with how much fun it was for me to be his parent," Linda Rogers said. "He was my only child."