Prohibited people sometimes pose with pistols online

On March 21, Minneapolis police officers reportedly saw a man carrying a rifle case from a north Minneapolis house to his car. According to a complaint filed yesterday in Hennepin County District Court, that man was Mike Green - also known as Damon Anton Young, 37. And as police investigators note in the complaint, Green is a person legally prohibited from possessing firearms. Police also apparently had a tip Green was violating the law because they allege Green had posted pictures of guns on "social media websites."

The complaint states that after a brief chase, they arrested Green and searched the rifle case and found a camouflage-colored AR-15 rifle and a Glock 9mm pistol. "Police recognized the guns as the ones pictured on the social media sites," read the complaint. Police also allege the guns were stolen. Green was charged with one count of prohibited person in possession of a firearm.

Brooklyn Center police officers arrested 20-year-old Steven Creamer on New Year's Day at a Comfort Inn hotel room after they found a handgun in the bathroom. According to the complaint, during the investigation police found a Facebook page for Steven "Stayfresh" Creamer containing a photo of him holding a gun. Officers allege the gun in the photo is similar to one they found in the hotel bathroom. In February the Hennepin County Attorney's office charged Creamer with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.

Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. Stephen McCarty says it is not unusual for criminal offenders to post pictures of themselves posing guns or engaging in other illegal activity. And McCarty said police will use that evidence against them.

Minneapolis police have also arrested a 27-year-old man in connection with the shooting deaths of Demetrius Harper and Erick Felton. The two men were killed at a north Minneapolis party in the early morning hours of March 8. Since the man has not been charged for the murders, and we're not naming him, we will call him John Doe. Doe was first arrested and charged for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm after witnesses at the party say Doe told them he admitted to firing a gun inside the building. As a part of the investigation, police say they found a Facebook picture of Doe sitting near a handgun.

Doe was later released on a $20,000 bond. However, according to court documents, he was arrested again on March 13, this time on a probable cause murder charge, and is being held in the Hennepin County jail. Minneapolis police investigators received permission from the court to swab Doe for DNA in order to connect him with a gun recovered at the scene of the double homicide. A spokesman with the Hennepin County Attorney's office says it has not received the case yet from the police department.

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