Families demand justice at Stolen Lives March to capitol

Baton Rouge rapper Boosie’s defiant lyrics blared through speakers outside the St. Paul Police Department last weekend, serving as a rallying cry for protesters who marched three miles in the pouring rain to the Minnesota State Capitol.

The annual Stolen Lives March, organized by Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, brought together relatives of Amir Locke, Ricky Cobb II, Mychel Stowers, Brandon Keys, George Floyd, and others lost to police shootings. Along University Avenue, two Black men raised their fists outside UnBank, joining hundreds of demonstrators chanting in unison:

“Cities, f*** ‘em! Narcotics, f*** ‘em! Feds, f*** ‘em! DAs, f*** ‘em!”

For many families, the march was both painful and empowering.

“This was amazing. My first time walking,” said Tamica Lankfard, mother of 36-year-old Mychel Stowers, who was fatally shot by St. Paul officers Eric Jaworski and Matthew Foy in 2023. “It won’t be my last, and I enjoyed each and every one of you guys walking.”

Angela Harrelson, aunt of George Floyd, reminded families to seek strength through collective power.

“We need to start owning our own systems, our own economic wealth, our own community,” said Harrelson, a registered nurse and military veteran. “Own that power. So dismantling us would not be so easy for them.”

Other families echoed the call for justice while exposing what they described as misleading police narratives.

“You have no idea what we go through as families behind the scenes, when they take your loved one’s life,” said Lisa Keys, whose 24-year-old son Brandon was shot by St. Paul officer Michael Tschida during a mental health crisis in 2023. “He was experiencing a crisis, and within seven seconds, he was shot.”

She said officers and city leaders often justify killings by criminalizing victims after the fact. “They create a narrative and make them out to be the worst person possible, so that people will accept what happened as necessary.”

The family of Ricky Cobb II, killed by state trooper Ryan Londregan during a 2023 traffic stop in Minneapolis, is still seeking justice after charges against the trooper were dismissed earlier this year.

“They tried to push it up under the rug, but I know we are going to get justice for him,” said Cobb’s mother Nyra Fields-Miller. His sister, Octavia Ruffin, added: “This hurts. I can only imagine the pain that people have already been going through, and those that are going through it right now.”

For Karen Wells, mother of Amir Locke, the anger remains raw. Locke, 22, was killed during a no-knock raid at a Minneapolis apartment in February 2022. Though police claimed he pointed a gun, body-camera footage raised doubts.

“How in the hell can somebody asleep on a couch be waiting and knowing that you’re about to come in at 6:48 a.m. with a no-knock warrant that had nothing to do with him?” Wells asked. Locke’s aunt, Linda Tyler, wore custom Converse etched with his face and angel wings as she marched. For her, spirituality provides endurance, but action is what drives change.

“You can’t stop, because faith without work is dead,” Tyler said. “You gotta understand who owns the police. We pay their salaries.”

As rain poured down, a rainbow stretched across the St. Paul skyline. For Tyler, it was a sign of hope and a reminder of civic duty. “If you understand the promise of the rainbow,” she said, “it means the promise that I will never do something again.”

Despite grief, the families insist the march is not just remembrance. It’s also a demand for accountability.