Family grieves death of boy, 11, shot in Minneapolis park; Good Samaritan details effort to save him

Troy Young was relaxing with his dogs on his north Minneapolis porch when a boy ran by, shouting that his 11-year-old brother had been shot down the street.

Young, a professional calf roper and a Marine, jumped into action to help Monday afternoon. He got into his pickup truck and sped north on Morgan Avenue. Moments later he found a teenager holding a small boy in his arms, with gunshot wounds and blood covering his face.

“I thought he was 7 or 8, kind of laying there in his arms, lifeless,” Young, 29, said during an interview Tuesday with the Minnesota Star Tribune.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office tentatively identified the boy as 11-year-old Amir Atkins.

“My sister has lost one of her babies,” wrote Marvin Walker Jr. in an online fundraising campaign started to help the family. “Our precious Mir Mir ... left this world far too young at just 11 years old.”

Walker added that Amir’s older brother “carried Amir, seeking help. A compassionate stranger then stepped in to rush them to medical care, but despite their valiant efforts, Amir could not be saved.”

He described Amir as “a beacon of light in our lives – a joyful, loving child whose laughter filled our hearts. He had a unique spark that touched everyone he met."

Amir’s cousin Marquis Fate, 26, also remembered the youngster fondly as “an extrovert, liked to talk.”

Fate said he’s baffled to think that anyone would feel the need to shoot a child in a park on a summer’s afternoon.

“I don’t know,” he said. “He was outside.”

Officers responded just after 2 p.m. to Folwell Park on reports of a shooting in the driveway entering the park, according to Police Chief Brian O’Hara. At least one vehicle connected to the shooting was driving over the park’s grass, and more were in the parking lot along Dowling Avenue.

No arrests have been made, and Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. Garrett Parten said investigators are still working to learn the circumstances and a motive.

“Determining how many shots were fired, where they originated, and how many individuals may have been involved are all key aspects of the ongoing investigation,” Parten said.

After Young found the victim, he ushered the boy and his brother into his pickup. Young recalled placing the boy’s head on the center console, only then noticing how much blood there was.

Young sped down Dowling Avenue in hopes of getting the boy to a hospital. He pulled over after finding a Minneapolis police officer along Penn Avenue North near a gas station a short drive away.

The lieutenant pulled the boy out and started chest compressions. Young held the boy’s mouth open so he could continue to breathe while the officer did CPR. Emergency medical workers got there soon after, but it was too late, Young said.

“He just died right there in my lap,” Young recalled.

When one of the medics approached, he gave Young a “knowing look” that the boy had already died, Young said.

A day after the initial shock of witnessing the boy’s death as a Good Samaritan, Young said he’s starting to feel the sadness and grief from the experience. There were still some blood stains on his truck’s interior.

“I rodeo, so I see gory stuff all the time,” he said. “When it’s an adult, it’s one thing, but when it’s a child, it kind of hits you,” Young said.

Police thanked Young for his efforts, and one suggested he should become an officer himself. Young said he thinks helping out those who have been victims of shootings is also something that comes with living in his part of north Minneapolis.

“I feel like that’s something that everybody should do if they’re able to,” Young said.

The homicide has sparked concern in the residential neighborhood surrounding Folwell Park. Kids were playing soccer during a summer camp in the park late morning on Tuesday, though. A staff member for the camp said they were not at the park when the shooting happened and did not witness it.

Another nearby resident, Marcia Phillips, has run a day care business out of her home on Morgan Avenue for the past 10 years. She said she enjoys taking the kids to the park on occasion, but the shooting has the parents of her day care students afraid.

“You can’t be fearful because it can happen anywhere,” she said, adding that action must be taken. “Something has got to be done sooner than later.”

Brandon Dickson, a 35-year-old who lives a few blocks from the park, said more intervention is needed to stop children before they carry out violent crime. He’s concerned about how much less outcry there is when someone is killed in north Minneapolis.

“Say this was a community in Crystal; the whole community would be at the park,” said Dickson, who added that he’s a former gang member. “North Minneapolis? It’s just another day.”

K.G. Wilson, a longtime peace activist whose 6-year-old granddaughter Aniya Allen was shot and killed in 2021, said what happened Monday reminded him of a shooting in 2021 that left 10-year-old Ladavionne Garrett Jr. critically injured. Garrett Jr. was shot in the head a short distance away from Folwell Park, on Morgan Avenue, and a suspect was never arrested.

“It really angers me, and I’m having some concerns that 2021 will repeat itself and we’ll have more children shot and killed,” Wilson said.