Vigil held for Black man killed by a state trooper in North Minneapolis

Police have yet again killed another Black man in Minneapolis. 

This time, during the early morning hours of July 31, a Minnesota state trooper shot and killed Ricky Cobb II, 33, of Spring Lake Park. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, the shooting reportedly occurred as troopers were executing a traffic stop because his vehicle did not have working taillights. 

The Star Tribune previously reported Cobb was parked on the side of Interstate 94 at Dowling Avenue when a state trooper intercepted him. Cobb then proceeded to leave, only to be chased by two more state troopers. The troopers boxed in his vehicles with their squad cars at I-94 at 42nd Avenue. At some point, the trooper reportedly opened fire, killing Cobb. 

The three troopers involved have not been identified and are currently on administrative leave. The footage was recorded on body and dash cameras. Westbound Interstate 94 was closed between Interstate 394 in Minneapolis and 53rd Avenue N. 

Activists say Cobb is a relative of Rosemary Nevils Williams of St. Paul. At a vigil held on Monday night by family and friends of Cobb at North Mississippi Regional Park, Nevils Williams remembered Cobb, who worked at an iron casting company in St. Cloud, as a good, kind-hearted kid. “He loves people. He would do anything for anybody,” said Nevils Williams shortly after relatives, some wearing red t-shirts, released red and white balloons in Cobb’s memory. 

Danielle Pickett, the mother of Cobb’s children, reminisced at the vigil about how they met. “I was sitting in a car with a friend…and he rode past on a bike and my friend decided to catcall him. [My friend] encouraged us to exchange numbers,” said Pickett, who knew Cobb for 12 years and was engaged to him before separating. 

State Patrol Colonel Matt Langer says the agency is working to “expeditiously” release video footage from the troopers’ body and dashboard cameras, after giving the families the opportunity to view it. State law, passed in the previous legislative session, requires that the next of kin of those who died, when a police officer uses deadly force, must have access to body camera footage documenting the incident within five days. 

After the family reviews the video footage, the state patrol can then release it to the public with redactions, as necessary, within 14 days of the incident. One exception: Colonel Langer could hold off releasing the footage if he decides it would interfere with the ongoing investigation. 

Body cameras are relatively new for the state police, having only completely outfitted every trooper with body cams in May 2022, at a cost of $8 million.

The MSR will continue to follow this story as it develops.