Police say that the gunfire one year ago that killed an entrepreneur and civil rights activist in Minneapolis came from a pickup truck that authorities are anxious to find.
Minneapolis police looking for shooter who killed entrepreneur-activist a year ago
Randall Lee Smith was shot multiple times near U.S. Bank Stadium, according to police.
November 18, 2022 at 12:57PM
Randall Lee Smith was shot multiple times about 8:40 p.m. on Nov. 17, 2021, in the 1200 block of S. 7th Street. Police have been looking since then for the pickup, which looks similar to a Dodge Ram.
Surveillance video of the incident shows the pickup stopping parallel to Smith in his vehicle. The 41-year-old father of two was shot while in his SUV near U.S. Bank Stadium, according to police reports. He died less than two hours later at HCMC, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office.
Smith managed the south Minneapolis-based All Square grilled cheese restaurant, the anchor for a social justice nonprofit that hires and helps find a path for people after prison. Smith was a graduate of All Square's fellowship program and helped start the All Square Fellow Fund.
Time magazine named All Square one of 2019's "Greatest Places." After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the Minnesota Vikings donated $250,000 to All Square. Smith told the Star Tribune last year that he planned to apply for a grant from that funding to start his own car-detailing business.
"He was just a profound human being," Emily Hunt Turner, founder and CEO of All Square, said days after Smith's death. "We called him 'the Prophet,' because he was about as centered in and committed to humanity as anyone I've known."
Investigators with the Minneapolis police and the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are asking for the public's help in identifying the pickup and providing any information that might lead to suspects in the killing. Tips can be submitted to CrimeStoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477) or CrimeStoppersMN.org. All tips are anonymous, and anyone providing information leading to an arrest and conviction may be eligible for a reward.
Staff writer Andy Mannix contributed to this report.
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