A Minnesota State Patrol trooper has been charged with production of child pornography, the state’s U.S. Attorney Office’s announced Thursday.

Jeremy Francis Plonski, 29, was arrested on a federal warrant after being charged with one count.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office has zero tolerance for public officials who violate federal laws — particularly those laws that protect vulnerable children from sexual abuse,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Lisa Kirkpatrick in a statement. “... While donning his uniform, Plonski committed one of the most vile and predatory offenses imaginable.”

Court documents weren’t publicly available Thursday and it wasn’t immediately clear whether the alleged offense happened while Plonski was on or off-duty, or whether he has an attorney.

Plonski became a state trooper in 2022 and is on leave, with an internal affairs investigation underway.

“The allegations in this case are appalling and indefensible,” said State Patrol Col. Christina Bogojevic in a statement. “... No badge, no title and no position will ever place anyone above the law. Protecting the vulnerable is our duty. Anyone who violates that duty has no place in this organization or in our profession.”

The FBI investigated, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office also thanked the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Shakopee police.

— Mara H. Gottfried

Metro State secured after gunfire reported

Metropolitan State University in St. Paul was locked down Thursday afternoon after a man fired a gun in the area, police said.

He fired shots toward his mother in the area of Sixth Street and Maria Avenue about 12:30 p.m., said Sgt. Toy Vixayvong. Neither the mother nor others in the area were injured.

Police asked the university to lock down during the police search for the 22-year-old suspect, who they found and took into custody, Vixayvong said.

A Metro State official said the university used its “active shooter safety protocols” and “campus operations were temporarily paused.” Law enforcement issued an “all clear” at about 1 p.m.

The suspect and his mother were arguing at their residence a few blocks away, and she asked him to leave, according to Vixayvong. He walked away and his mother left in her vehicle. He saw her and started shooting, striking her vehicle several times.

— Mara H. Gottfried

3 injured in East Side apartment shooting

Three people were injured in an early morning shooting in a St. Paul apartment Thursday.

Officers responded to the shooting in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood about 2:10 a.m. and heard a commotion inside an apartment, said Sgt. Toy Vixayvong, a St. Paul police spokesman. They found a man was shot in his buttocks and woman shot in her back in the building on Aguirre Street and Payne Avenue.

A witness said a group came to the apartment, talking turned into an argument, and someone pulled out a gun and started shooting, according to Vixayvong.

St. Paul Fire Department medics transported the two from the apartment to Regions Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Soon after, a man arrived at another hospital with a gunshot wound. He also was shot at the apartment and police arrested the man after he was treated, Vixayvong said.

The Thursday morning incident brought the number of non-fatal shootings in St. Paul to 16 this year, compared with 26 at the same time last year, according to police department statistics. St. Paul police started a Non-Fatal Shooting Unit last year, with the aim of putting more investigative work into solving such cases. The police chief has said that work is a major contributing factor to a decline in shootings.

— Mara H. Gottfried

Second-grader found with gun, police say

A second-grader was found with a gun at a St. Paul elementary school Thursday, police say.

The child had the unloaded handgun in his pocket at Bruce Vento Elementary School on Case Avenue and Arkwright Street.

He said he brought it from home to show his friends, according to Sgt. Toy Vixayvong, a St. Paul police spokesman. A teacher found the gun and police were notified about 11:30 a.m.

In a message to parents, Principal Nicole Napierala wrote, “We do not believe the student planned to use the weapon, nor were any threats made.”

“If you have any weapons in your home, make sure they are safely stored and not accessible,” the letter continued. “You are encouraged to say something if you see or hear any safety concerns.”

Police are investigating who the gun belongs to and how the child accessed it, Vixayvong said.

— Mara H. Gottfried

Regions Hospital cited over medical waste

State environmental regulators have fined St. Paul’s Regions Hospital for improperly disposing of infectious medical waste at an east metro trash facility in 2024.

On several occasions last year, the hospital put blood-contaminated syringes, plastic bags, suction cannisters and laboratory collection tubes in the standard municipal waste system, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy in Newport contacted state environmental regulators when it received the items. The facility had to hire a contractor to separate the waste from other garbage and send it to a proper disposal site, officials said.

Regions Hospital operator HealthPartners confirmed the Newport facility received the waste.

The state fined Regions Hospital $100,000 for improperly disposing of the medical waste and ordered a series of corrective actions, which officials and HealthPartners said the hospital completed.

“We’re committed to ensuring infectious medical waste is disposed of properly,” HealthPartners said in a statement. “We took immediate action last year and continue to partner with Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy to improve sorting and disposal practices.”

Hospitals are supposed to send medical waste to a specially permitted disposal site.

— Alex Derosier

Victim of house fire was prominent singer

Singer Jill Sobule died in a Woodbury house fire, various media outlets reported Thursday.

Woodbury Public Safety said the victim was a woman in her 60s.

Sobule, known for her 1995 song “I Kissed A Girl,” was the woman who lost her life, Billboard reported.

Woodbury Public Safety responders were alerted at 5:30 a.m. to a fire on the 9000 block of Pinehurst Road, according to the department. The house was fully engulfed in flames when they arrived.

Homeowners told responders that one person was likely still inside the home. Firefighters worked to extinguish the flames while searching for the missing person and they found her deceased, Woodbury Public Safety said.

An investigation into the cause of the fire and the cause of death is ongoing. Woodbury Public Safety said there were no immediate signs of foul play.

Sobule, 66, was scheduled to play Friday in Denver, which was her hometown. “I Kissed A Girl” was considered the first song that was openly gay to make it onto the Billboard Top 20, Variety reported.

— Talia McWright

Things looking up for Lift Bridge boaters

Warm spring weather and numerous requests from boaters have prompted Minnesota Department of Transportation officials to start the 2025 schedule of the Stillwater Lift Bridge this week.

The Lift Bridge is now staffed from 8 a.m. to midnight each day, and the bridge will lift every half hour if boat traffic is present.

The lift schedule is expected to stay in effect through late October.

Bridge tenders will respond to special requests to lift the bridge after midnight if given a two-hour notice; requests can be made by calling MnDOT’s 24-hour dispatch at 651-234-7110.

— Mary Divine

Man arrested in shooting that killed 3

Authorities arrested a 34-year-old man Thursday in connection with the fatal shootings of three people in South Minneapolis, and the city’s police chief said it’s likely another person was killed the next day in retaliation.

Police have said that the four people killed and two others seriously wounded in the multiple shootings were Native American, and authorities strongly suspect the shootings were gang-related. However, Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference Thursday that authorities are still investigating the motives behind the shootings.

The shootings shook a large Indigenous community south of downtown Minneapolis. A 20-year-old woman, a 17-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man were killed in Tuesday’s shootings in the 1500 block of East 25th Street, and a 28-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman were taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. A 30-year-old man died in Wednesday’s shooting in the 2100 block of Cedar Avenue South.

The first shooting took place just before midnight Tuesday. O’Hara said it’s “entirely probable” that the second shooting with a single victim was a response to the three deaths, and he said someone else was responsible. It occurred about 1 p.m. Wednesday a little more than a mile to the northeast outside an apartment building housing the Minneapolis offices of the Red Lake Nation tribe.

“But beyond that, I can’t speculate further about some ongoing beef,” O’Hara said. The police chief said investigators believe the shootings are gang related based on the “lived experience” of the people in the area.

The U.S. Marshals Service said its local fugitive task force and an FBI SWAT team arrested the suspect Thursday afternoon. He was being held in the Hennepin County jail.

Meanwhile, police are investigating a fifth homicide that occurred within 24 hours. Shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday, officers were alerted to gunfire in the 3000 block of 15th Avenue South. A man in his 50s was found with life-threatening gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The violence shattered a relative peace in Minneapolis. The city recently went two months without a homicide until a man was shot to death April 19. It was the city’s longest period without a homicide in a decade, according to police.

— Associated Press

— Associated Press