Woman charged for role in attacking Minneapolis shelter

A woman has been charged for her role in an attack at a Minneapolis shelter.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) charged 33-year-old Eureka Dominique Riser (also known as Eureka Willis) with second-degree riot and criminal damage to property.

As previously reported, on Sept. 5, officers responded to a disturbance at St. Anne’s Place, a shelter for unhoused families in Minneapolis.

Police say a verbal argument between residents of the shelter and people from a home on the same block escalated to physical violence.

During the altercation, the shelter and a car belonging to a resident of the shelter were damaged. Police also add that one person was assaulted and the vehicle was damaged by gunfire.

Surveillance video shows people, including the victim, running inside the shelter.

Officials say that a few minutes later, a group of at least three people, including Riser, went up to the front door of the building. Riser briefly left but came back with a baseball bat and began hitting the front door.

Shortly after, the victim came outside and then went back inside through the side door. Riser and at least two other people followed the victim up the side steps of the building, according to the HCAO.

Riser started hitting the side door with the bat and shattered the glass as the victim and other residents, some of them children, were inside.

Building managers estimate the damage to be at least $10,000 and all residents had to be evacuated and moved to another building for their safety.

“This violent attack on some of our most vulnerable community members, unhoused women and
children, in a place where they had gone to seek shelter and safety cannot be tolerated,” said Hennepin
County Attorney Mary Moriarty.

The investigation is ongoing and additional charges may be brought against others involved. Riser is currently in custody at the Hennepin County Jail.

In a later update, Minneapolis police stated they arrested a 35-year-old man for his involvement in at least one assault during the incident. The suspect was arrested around 7 p.m. during a traffic stop and was booked into Hennepin County Jail for second-degree assault, discharge of a weapon and for being a felon in possession of a firearm.