Rash of motorcyclist deaths continues

At least seven motorcyclists have been killed this past week across the state, including one in Burnsville and one in Bloomington on Thursday, authorities said.

According to the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office, Joseph Stephen Keefe, 36, was killed Thursday in a motorcycle crash at West 84th Street and Blaisdell Avenue South in Bloomington.

The medical examiner’s office also reported that Peter Vsevolod Genis, 17, died Thursday when his motorcycle crashed at Interstate 35W northbound and the Burnsville Parkway ramp in Burnsville.

In the previous fatalities:

A motorcyclist was killed shortly after 6 p.m. Oct. 3 in Winona County when he left northbound Minnesota 74 near Park Road and crashed. Ross Anthony Stensrud, 61, of Rochester, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A motorcyclist was killed shortly before noon Oct. 5 in Oak Grove while making a left turn in the 3200 block of Viking Boulevard Northwest. Kelly Matthew Linder, 49, of Albert Lea, died after an eastbound SUV struck him from behind.

A motorcyclist was killed shortly before 8 p.m. Oct. 5 in Minnetonka when the operator, heading westbound on U.S. 12 from Carlson Parkway, struck a curb. Garrett Mathew Dawson, 58, of Becker, was pronounced dead at the scene. His passenger, a 58-year-old Buffalo woman, wasn’t seriously injured.

A motorcyclist was killed shortly after noon Sunday in Anoka. Bradley Alan Brockel, 52, of Ramsey, was killed when his motorcycle left the roadway on westbound Green Haven Parkway near Thurston Avenue.

A motorcyclist was killed shortly before 7 a.m. Monday in a collision with an SUV at West Arrowhead and Rice Lake roads in Duluth.

All the fatal crashes remain under investigation by the State Patrol or local authorities.

— Kristi Miller

Oakdale

City celebrates park’s grand opening

Oakdale-area residents can check out their new park, Willowbrooke Commons, next Saturday when the city hosts a grand opening celebration.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony and celebration with family friendly activities, food and more will be held from 1-3 p.m. Oct. 12, at 3800 Henna Ave. N.

The new park features accessible playground equipment, a challenge course, adult fitness equipment, a shelter for community gatherings, a play area shelter, restrooms, water misters, hammock area, walkways and areas with natural landscape for people to use for community and neighborhood events.

The city began work on the 6-acre park this spring.

Willowbrooke Commons is one of several parks that will be in Oakdale’s Willowbrooke residential development, which is expected to bring over 1,400 new homes to the city in the next three years. Construction of the residential development is over 50% complete.

More information about the Willowbrooke development can be found at oakdalemn.gov/345/Willowbrooke-Development.

— Amirah Razman

West Fargo, N.D.

No charges in shooting outside church

A West Fargo High School driver’s education teacher will not be charged for fatally shooting a man in August outside a church.

Don Barron Jr., 53, of Moorhead, shot 25-year-old Austin Strom on Aug. 17 outside Prairie Heights Church.

Strom, a parishioner at Prairie Heights, assaulted fellow church member Kent Hodges, 66, outside the church, according to a release issued two days after the shooting by the West Fargo Police Department. Barron intervened and ultimately shot Strom.

The prosecutor said the shooting was self-defense.

— Forum News Service