Officials ID man fatally stabbed at Minneapolis party; homicides up 20% in city vs. last year

Officials on Monday identified two recent homicide victims in Minneapolis whose deaths came amid a flurry of violence in the city since late last week.

Troy Dean Friend, 31, of Minneapolis suffered multiple stab wounds shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday at a residence in the 3400 block of N. Penn Avenue and died less than an hour later at Robbinsdale’s North Memorial Health Hospital, according to police and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Police arrested a 47-year-old man and booked him into jail that same morning awaiting a potential charge of murder. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.

The stabbing was one of a string of violent, and at-times deadly, crimes in the city since Thursday that sent Police Chief Brian O’Hara turning to other law enforcement agencies for patrol assistance.

Three homicides, numerous nonfatal shootings and a carjacking that left the victim with critical gunshot wounds have left his understaffed department overwhelmed, the chief said.

A Star Tribune database shows there have been at least 42 homicides so far this year in Minneapolis, compared with 35 at this time last year. That’s a year-over-year increase of 20% and is 75% higher than at this point in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

According to police:

Callers to 911 “said they heard screaming during a party at the residence,” a statement from police read. “Preliminary information indicates that an altercation inside the residence escalated to a stabbing.”

Two blocks to the south and less than two hours earlier, a 45-year-old man was shot and left on a sidewalk. The shooter was gone by the time police arrived. The man died at North Memorial. Officials have yet to release his identity.