Family mourns two brothers killed in north Minneapolis shooting
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Dozens gathered at a vigil in north Minneapolis Monday to remember two brothers shot and killed last week.
According to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, 23-year-old Akwame Stewart and 14-year-old Xavier Barnett were both killed by a cousin.
Jerry McAfee, a pastor at New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, offered prayers before the group released balloons into the sky.
“This hurts,” said their sister, De’Asia Freeman. “It’s going to take a long journey for my family to heal.”
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Freeman said the family is still grieving another brother, Derrell Freeman, who was shot and killed in 2023.
“We didn’t even fully grieve over my oldest brother,” she said. “And now both of my other brothers are gone. It’s hard.”
Freeman described Stewart as funny and creative.
“He loved to paint and he rapped,” she said. “He was the best uncle. He loved his nieces and nephews — he was like a dad to them. He’d always ask, ‘You coming to get a plate?’ I’m going to miss all of that.”
She said Xavier, a ninth grader, was focused on school and looked up to his older brothers.
“I’ll miss him calling me about his good grades,” Freeman said. “He was an amazing student.”
She said her 1-year-old son still looks for his uncles.
Pastor McAfee, who visited the family after Derrell Freeman was killed, came at the family’s request.
“Our community has been through this so long that it’s almost callous, which is sad,” said McAfee. “That this abnormality is the normal.”
BCA investigators say the cousin who committed the shooting last week — Eddie Duncan — was himself shot and killed by three Brooklyn Center police officers about a half an hour later.
After speaking with relatives of the victims last week, Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara called the shooting an "unimaginable loss" for the family.
“Pain is at fault,” said McAfee. “Pained people pain people. Hurt people hurt people. It’s not new, and that’s sad.”
Duncan was released Feb. 23 from jail on bond after he was previously arrested on warrants including fleeing police and possessing a firearm with a switch that converts it to a machine gun.
