Victim In Saturday's Double Homicide Was Brother Of 11-Year-Old Killed In 2000

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A double homicide on the city's north side has ties to a murder 20 years ago.

McConda Deon Robinson, 53, is being called a hero for pushing two young men out of the way of gunfire Saturday just before 4 a.m. near North Bryant Avenue and West Broadway Avenue.

The sound of automatic gunfire could be heard for blocks before EMS crews arrived to carry away the city's 33rd and 34th homicide victims of the year.

"He was just there trying to save the younger guys from getting shot," Monique Flowers, with A Mother's Love, said.

A Mother's Love was first on the scene and was told that one of the victims, Robinson, was a hero.

"He kind of stepped and pushed the older guy, and the younger guy who passed away, Kayvon, he pushed him to the ground. He ended up getting shot too," Flowers said.

The second victim, 21-year-old Kayvon Williams, is related to another homicide victim from decades past. That man who died was the brother of Kevin Brewer who, at age 11 was killed in 2000 after being shot by a stray bullet during a gang fight. He and a friend had stopped to watch a fight amongst men who were gambling near Cottage Park.

His death remains unsolved despite a $150,000 reward.

"It's just sad that this cycle continues to repeat itself," New Salem Baptist Church Rev. Jerry McAfee said. "And the question becomes, how do we break it?"

McAfee called all boots-on-the-ground organizations together.

"What I said to the group yesterday is all of us have levels of influence on both sides. We need you talking to everyone that you know," McAfee said.

He believes tactics that worked when Minneapolis was dubbed "Murderapolis" in the late '90s should be applied now.

"We always had a presence in each camp to where that person dealt with them all the time," he said. "If something was getting ready to get crazy, we had someone there with them to try and talk them through it. Right now, to my knowledge, we don't have that type of structure."

McAfee wants to stop the cycle that has him preaching funerals for the children whose father's he's buried in the past.

"No one group is going to be successful on this if we don't do this thing together and create the necessary synergy. We will always be back here," McAfee said.

Minneapolis police have taken more than 20 guns off the street in recent days. The MPD says they need community to work with them to help stop the gun violence.