Fake street signs warn of 'easily startled' police in Twin Cities

Joe Morino brought an incredulous friend to see the orange street sign he just spotted in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis.

The official-looking metal sign read: "WARNING: TWIN CITIES POLICE EASILY STARTLED." It featured a graphic silhouette of a police officer, a gun in each raised hand, shooting in both directions.

"There's a side of truth to the sign," Morino said after snapping a picture of it. "That tells you there is something wrong with the system."

The sign, which was still up at 8 p.m. Sunday, was one of at least two seen in the Twin Cities Sunday.

A photo of the same sign, reportedly near the corner of Snelling and University avenues in St. Paul, circulated Sunday on social media. A Facebook post said that sign later was removed.

Each was screwed into upright metal posts in the same fashion as conventional street signs.

The signs reference the killing of Justine Damond just over a week ago by Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor. Noor's partner, Matthew Harrity, told the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension that he heard a loud sound right before Noor fired his gun, hitting Damond.

Derek Traxler, who was at Acadia, a bar on the corner of Cedar and Riverside avenues, said he had seen a picture of the sign on Reddit an hour earlier. It had hit the popular discussion site's "front page," he said.

"I think it's great that it's getting attention," Traxler said.

St. Paul Police spokesman Steve Linders said he hadn't heard about the signs when asked Sunday afternoon.

Corey Schmidt, spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department, said he had seen a Facebook post earlier about the St. Paul sign but didn't know about the Minneapolis one. He had no comment.

Erin Adler • 612-673-1781