Woman opens up about brother who died after being assaulted in downtown Minneapolis
In her Maple Grove home, Michelle Swanson keeps photographs and memories of her brother, James Quigley, close by.
“He was fun, he was always laughing,” she recalls. “He traveled the world on ships, his sea days are impressive. He’s a great guy.”
In the early morning of May 4th, outside a downtown Minneapolis bus stop, all of that changed.
“He was at 925 Nicollet Mall when someone, I don’t know who, assaulted him,” Swanson says.
According to a police report released by MPD, officers responded to a call of an assault in progress.
But now, the attack on Quigley is being investigated as a homicide.
According to the Medical Examiner, the cause of death is from ‘complications of blunt force craniocerebral injuries’ – injuries to the head.
“It was very violent,” Swanson declares. “I mean, even 10 days later, he still had quite a bit of marking on his neck. One side of his face, it almost looked like boot prints on his face.”
Swanson says earlier in the evening, her brother, who was 53, had gone with friends to First Avenue for a concert.
She believes afterwards, he went to get a drink at a nearby bar, then walked to Nicollet Mall to catch an Uber.
“I’ve been told he was walking by and there was some type of verbal altercation with someone or people that were there,” Swanson notes. “Jimmy turned, said something, then turned back and he was attacked.”
After he was transported to HCMC, she says Quigley remained alive. However, family members agreed to take him off life support after 10 days.
On June 27th, Quigley, a Gulf War veteran, was buried at Fort Snelling Cemetery with full military honors.
Swanson says on the day he died, he was supposed to be flying to Jacksonville, Florida for a naval reunion.
“I had not even contacted anyone because of everything that was going on,” she remembers. “His phone rang in my pocket; it was his buddy who was supposed to pick him up at the airport. And I had to tell him, I’m so sorry, he’s not here, he had just passed.”
Swanson says the family is urgently hoping someone comes forward with information about the case.
So far, police say there have been no arrests, and anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers.
“Someone had to see this. You know in the day of media and cell phones, someone had to see this,” Swanson says. “I don’t care, even if there was a verbal altercation. No one, no one deserves to be beaten to death. We just want to know. We want justice for him.”