St. Paul police were working to determine Saturday who killed 17-year-old Denelle Ray Bacon on Thursday in Battle Creek Regional Park in St. Paul and whether his death is connected to a recent string of Twin Cities homicides that police believe are gang-related.
Investigators went door to door Saturday interviewing people who live near the wooded area of the park where the teenager was shot.
"We believe there are people who know something about this murder and who is responsible for it," said St. Paul police spokesman Paul Schnell.
Bacon, who was a student at North Side City Inc. in Minneapolis, was shot several times between 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. Thursday, police said. Hikers found his body at about 5 p.m. just off Point Douglas Rd. and Hwy. 61. It's unclear why Bacon would have been in the remote area of the park. Investigators are focusing on his whereabouts and activities before he was murdered, said Cmdr. Nancy DiPerna, head of St. Paul's homicide unit.
Community activist Spike Moss said an assembly will be held Monday at the alternative school Bacon attended to help students cope. Moss said he doesn't believe that Bacon was a gang member.
Still, Moss said the wave of violence needs to stop, and on Saturday he met with a group of ministers and concerned men to launch a movement called Blessed Are the Peacemakers. Moss said the Peacemakers plan to encourage kids to stay out of gangs.
We've got "to speak to the students to not join in this nonsense," he said. We want them to know "we're interested in peace and in saving their life. You can't tell them at the end of a bloodbath that you care."
Schnell said that it is too early to determine whether Bacon's murder was gang-related, but that the shooting did not appear to be random.
