Public safety briefs

Tyrone Washington, the 27-year-old homicide victim gunned down at Epic nightclub early Sunday, had been ordered by a Hennepin County judge to stay out of downtown after his guilty plea two weeks ago to a charge of terroristic threats for the benefit of a gang.

The order, known as a "geographical restriction," has been in use for several years, mostly to put a dent in drug dealing, according to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

"If we had found him downtown, we would have put him back in jail. … The irony is that if he had been in custody, he wouldn't have been killed," Freeman said.

Washington, a high-ranking member of the 1-9 Block Dipset gang, was convicted of threatening to kill police officers after he was sprayed with chemical irritant on March 4 outside of a nightclub by officers who were attempting to clear a crowd off the sidewalks, according to a criminal complaint.

"Y'all don't know about me!" he told people waiting in line at Pizza Luce while pointing to two police officers, according to the complaint. "I'm more powerful than the cops! I run this city!"

Matt McKinney

A former Washington County sheriff's deputy was convicted Monday of pilfering drugs from a locked pharmaceutical drop box in the county government building in Stillwater.

Gruber, while employed as a deputy, was observed by hidden surveillance on Feb. 6 removing the secure drug bin from the pharmaceutical drop-off box at the Sheriff's Office. The drug drop-off is a public service that allows the public to bring used or unwanted medications and drugs for proper disposal.

Gruber admitted to having stolen the key to the secure area and having made a copy for his personal use. He admitted that he took prescription drugs from the bin and placed them in a red bag in his office.

Sheriff Bill Hutton said his department took steps to prevent any further internal theft. Only a few designated deputies have contact with the drugs, he said, which they handle as chain-of-custody evidence and take to disposal plants.

Kevin Giles

A Farmington man was charged Tuesday with spraying a car with gunfire in a south Minneapolis alley in August, killing two men and wounding two women in what police believe may have been a case of mistaken identity.

Sanders, who turned himself in over the weekend, remains jailed in lieu of $5 million bail pending a court appearance Wednesday. His criminal history in Minnesota includes convictions for robbery, drug possession, burglary, assault and disorderly conduct.

According to the criminal complaint:

Witnesses saw two men running through the alley in the 2600 block of 18th Avenue S. about 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 25. Later, a witness told police that the suspects may have been Fat Man Scoop, an alias for Sanders, and a man known as Nutty.

The witness also told police the shooting may have been a case of mistaken identity. Sanders and the other man intended to shoot someone else, who looks like Wilson.

Burt was behind the wheel, and Wilson was in the seat behind him. According to the surviving passengers, the four had gone out to eat, shopped in Uptown and had pulled into the alley. They were in the car when the two men approached and fired 33 shots.

Paul Walsh

A bear-hunt­ing guide in northern Minnesota has been charged with using il­legal tac­tics to kill bear and deer, ac­cord­ing to auth­ori­ties.

Keith R. Slick, 32, of Baudette, was charged Fri­day in Lake of the Woods District Court with a variety of offenses, including exceeding the hunting lim­it for bear, un­law­ful pos­ses­sion of deer, two charges of un­law­ful­ly trans­port­ing a bear, il­legal pos­ses­sion of a car-killed deer, and fail­ure to reg­is­ter bear bait sta­tions, hunt­ing with­in 100 yards of an un­regis­tered bear bait sta­tion and plac­ing bait for bear with­out a li­cense.

There were oth­er vio­la­tions, ac­cord­ing to the state Department of Nat­u­ral Resources (DNR), but the stat­ute of limi­ta­tions had ex­pired.

Slick could not be reached for comment.

A check of DNR re­cords in­di­cat­ed that Slick has not reg­is­tered an adult male deer or bear in the past 10 years — as far back as re­cords go.

A cellphone seized during the in­ves­ti­ga­tion con­tained pic­tures of Slick with a dead bear and text mes­sages with Slick tell­ing peo­ple a­bout the bear he had shot. Oth­er text mes­sages from Slick stat­ed that he had shot seven bears in his life.

Slick faces near­ly $4,500 in fines and res­ti­tu­tion.

If con­victed, his hunt­ing privi­leges could be revoked for three years.