For one family, Independence Day was marked by the dramatic entrance of their baby girl to the world. From StarTribune reporter Kelly Smith:
Just after 6:30 a.m. Monday, State Patrol troopers, Minneapolis firefighters and North Memorial Medical Center paramedics were called to help a woman in labor on Interstate 94.
The first responders helped deliver the baby girl on the side of the eastbound lane of the freeway near Lowry Avenue N. The mother and baby were then taken to Hennepin County Medical Center in an ambulance.
“I think she just didn’t get to the hospital in time,” Minneapolis Assistant Fire Chief Bryan Tyner said Monday.
As for a special highway delivery? “It doesn’t happen very often.”
Authorities declined to identify the mother but said that both she and her daughter are doing well at HCMC.
A different sort of dramatic rescue happened in Rush City, Minnesota, on Thursday, June 30, 2016, when Afghan Army Vet, Jason Galvin, used a .22 caliber rifle to help an eagle that was caught in a tree. Blane Huppert of Kare11 reported:
On Thursday Jason Galvin took shots from a .22 caliber rifle to free an eagle that had become tangled in a rope, hanging upside down from a tree 75 feet off the ground.
“It was very windy and I was just waiting for the right shot,” said Galvin who spent 90 minutes firing roughly 150 shots while mowing down three branches, and finally the rope, holding up the eagle.
Other branches on the white pine and the underbrush below helped break the eagle’s fall. The bird is now recovering at the University of Minnesota Raptor Center.
“It was a good weekend for it to happen,” Galvin said. “Fourth of July, you know, that’s our bird. I can’t let it sit there.”
Marking the third homicide in five days, police in Minneapolis are investigating a fatal shooting that occurred on Monday.
Police responded to the 1400 block of Morgan Avenue N. about 3:30 p.m. and found a victim critically injured in front of a house.
The man, whom authorities have not yet identified, was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he later died, police said in a statement.
Police said they found a handgun at the scene and a suspect, whom police are questioning. It appeared that the shooting was between two people who knew each other, police said.
Just a day earlier, Andre A. Riley Jr., 24, of Minneapolis, died in a parking lot at Emerson Avenue N. and W. Broadway shortly before 4 a.m. Two other people were wounded but are expected to survive; no arrests have been made in that case.
And on Thursday in south Minneapolis, one man died from a gunshot to the back about 8:20 a.m. near the intersection of E. 24th Street and Oakland Avenue S. The Hennepin County medical examiner identified the man as Mario McGee, 27, of St. Paul.
Across Minnesota, Independence Day celebrations brought people together with festivals, parades and fireworks displays. Patriotism was on full display with red, white and blue banners and American flags flying. Here are a few photos and videos from celebrations across the state:
