As an interesting personal twist, one of the suspects, Antonio Kelly, is the father of one of the children at the daycare center where my wife works. I certainly know nothing about the man and hate to rush to judgment, but it's odd seeing his name in all the stories along with his checkered past and hearing my wife's recollections of him picking up his child.

While murder is serious business, especially a cop-killing, it's disheartening to hear some of the potential injustices in the aftermath. One link above tells the story of black in men in St. Paul staying in to avoid being picked up by the police. As the police were hunting for suspects it becomes a case of driving while black.

Another story above about friends of one of the suspects mentions their home being searched and apparently trashed: "The trio said that it took them a while to clean up the mess -- including broken doors -- left by police after officers searched their duplex unit in the 900 block of Margaret Street."

I don't know a thing about police procedure, but it seems extreme to damage doors (kicking them down?) and mess up a residence in the search for evidence. It's also disappointing to see what could be perceived as racism. I hate to call it that as the police were probably doing everything in their power to find the suspects as quickly as possible. Sometimes safety requires inconvenience. But it's sad that things like this happen.

But for all the hand-wringing and cries for justice, which are needed, I wonder how we make our city a safer place? You can't lock up every two bit offender for life. It's easy to cry for blood when something as horrible as this happens. It's a lot harder to find a solution that actually works.