‘It’s awful’: Partner of man killed in Nudieland mass shooting reacts to arrests
Caitlin Angelica’s colorful two-story home in south Minneapolis is lined with memories of her late partner, 35-year-old musician August Golden.
His favorite records fill shelves in her room. At a tribute near her bed, Golden smiles from Polaroids interspersed with mementos and lit up by fairy lights.
It’s been eight months since the Nudieland mass shooting that killed Golden and injured six others, but she still feels the grief of that night. Angelica had stood by Golden during his last moments in Nudieland’s backyard that summer night.
“I am constantly living in a state of like disbelief and like alternate reality feeling, but I have, I would say, accepted the fact that August is dead, and I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with that person,” said Angelica.
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In the weeks following the shooting, hundreds gathered around Angelica, bringing meals, listening to music together and keeping a fire going outside her home to mourn the loss of Golden and the pain of the attack on a safe haven.
Punk and queer communities in Minneapolis have rallied to support each other since, but some report feeling heightened fear of being in large crowds. It also was a challenge to know the shooter or shooters were still on the loose.
“Just like walking down the street and like the person could be standing next to us on the street corner and we wouldn’t know, you know?” Angelica said.
However, when Hennepin County officials announced this week that two teens were taken into custody on charges of murder and assault in the case, Angelica said it did not bring much relief. Both suspects were under 18 at the time of the shooting and their cases remain in juvenile court while prosecutors consider certifying them as adults.
“It doesn’t bring comfort, it doesn’t bring relief. It like actually just like, makes me feel worse … It makes me feel the same amount of ick that I felt this whole time. You know, it’s just like, it’s awful," she said.
Remembering Golden through music
Nudieland was a cornerstone for the local punk community. The East Phillips home has been a place where artists met and lived for more than a decade, going by the name Nudieland since 2019. Angelica’s friends had lived there and later Golden did, too.
Golden’s bandmate and friend Bryan May said Nudieland’s name is a play on words, adding “new” to the name of a another punk house known as “D-Land.”
Angelica met Golden in 2019. They started dating in 2021, with a relationship built around music.
“We have like the exact same music taste,” said Angelica, describing their shared love for punk, as well as old folk, country, soul and reggae music.
They had both played in punk bands for years. Angelica said Golden helped her learn to play the guitar, leading to her eventual debut as a solo act.
“There was something about the fact that he was very good at encouraging people to try new things and understand that it takes time to like build skill and that practicing every day actually works. Go figure,” she said with a smile.
Music has been a big part of how she’s processing the shooting. She plays some of his guitars to feel connected to him, and has performed at memorials for Golden in New Orleans and Oakland, Calif., where he lived before moving to Minneapolis.
“I feel like the closest thing to closure that I can have is just like, showing up for the ways that he did for himself and for his friends, and his family and my family.”
She wrote several songs in the wake of Golden’s death. She recently released a tape and is going on tour, an excuse to return his truck to his family in California.
“It is like really awful, in so many ways, and it was also like really beautiful that I have the kind of community that I do,” she said.
Mixed feelings over arrest of two teens
Angelica said she feels complicated emotions about the arrests of Dominic Burris, who is now 18, and a minor who has not been publicly named.
There’s the weight of gun violence as a nationwide issue that has impacted family members and strangers alike. She also stands against incarceration as a form of justice.
“I feel very sad that they are so young,” Angelica said. “I just imagine the police showing up to their house and to someone’s mom’s house and arresting someone’s child. And like, a teenager hurting,” she said. “Hurt people hurt people.”
Others in the punk community have echoed similar thoughts.
“I guess there’s some relief just having someone off the streets who might do terrible things to the community, but, you know, it doesn’t bring August back,” May said.
“Personally, with my feelings about incarceration and the criminal justice system, I don’t really know how it would feel to, like, have those kids go to prison,” said Claire Cobs, who was at Nudieland the night of the shooting.
“What they did was horrible and inexcusable, but I also know that that kind of, like, hate that compelled them to do what they did that night and think that was an okay thing to do is a systematic issue that doesn't start or end with them,” Cobs said.
“It’s just hard to sift through the nuance of how we all feel about it,” Angelica said. “We don’t want people to necessarily be put in prison, even though they did a really bad thing.”
