_______________________________________________
Story and photos by Kareem Abdelrahman / The Hubbard School

The door to Royal Cigar and Tobacco in Dinkytown is covered with warning signs. 

Some of the signs are about the legal age to buy its products but others more ominous: an order from Minneapolis limiting the shop to four customers, another sign warning customers are being filmed and another saying “No ski masks allowed.”

The signs are a reminder that Dinkytown has changed its security tactics after December 2023, when a lone gang member shot and killed two men in the tobacco store. The tragedy brought more police presence, and initial skittishness among students and those who work in Dinkytown. 

Today, however, business is back to normal at Royal Cigar and Tobacco, even though an increased police presence remains — something owner Elsaid Elsayed, 32, said he appreciates. He also pays for extra security from 9 p.m. until 3 a.m. “Sure, the extra security does add a bit to my business expenses, but it’s totally worth it,” Elsayed said. “It makes us feel safer and it puts our customers at ease too.”

The immediate impact

Maleek Jabril Conley, 27 at the time, and a member of the South Minneapolis “Crazi Boyz” gang, entered the 14th Avenue store on Dec. 3 at 2:15 a.m. and killed Bryson Lamarr Haskell and Jamartre Michael Sanders, both 24 and members of the North Minneapolis gang “Lowz,” according to the criminal complaint. 

A store employee was also shot, but survived and reached the shop’s panic button which locked everyone inside. Conley shot out a window and escaped in a stolen Kia, but was later caught and convicted of multiple charges.

Royal Cigar and Tobacco has been open for more than 25 years, but the 2023 shooting was the first time the store ever experienced any violence, Elsayed said. If somebody starts verbally threatening people, it’s usually after midnight and he has security kick them out.

For a while, he said, employees felt nervous and concerned about returning to work. Anxiety increased a few days after when three men came into the shop with ski masks asking for the camera recording of the shooting incident. Elsayed said they asked the men to leave and called police. 

Now, he said, he and his employees feel safer because there are multiple police cars around the store until it closes.  “The sirens and light every night makes it safe,” Elsayed said. “The young kids, the young customers feel safe, because they are hanging out at the bar till two in the morning.”

A mixed picture

Some Dinkytown residents remain concerned.

Findlay Drabant, 21, a journalism student at the university from Milwaukee, said crime like the Royal Cigar and Tobacco shooting, and incidents of her friends being followed and cat-called make her wary about walking alone at night. She said she doesn’t want to live in Dinkytown.

“I prefer to stay removed,” Drabant said. 

Aggravated assaults in neighborhoods around the University of Minnesota increased by 41% from 2019 to 2024, while murders remained fairly low, topping out with five in 2019 and 2023. The university’s Daily Crime Log reports eight assaults around the Dinkytown area so far in 2025. 

Andria Waclawski, director of public relations at the university, said crime is down in the area. “Notably in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood, where Dinkytown is located, almost every category of crime is down year over year, ” Waclawski said via email. 

She said the university’s new Safety Center, which opened in Fall, 2024, has improved off-campus security. The center is located on University Avenue and 14th Street to provide students with safety resources and hangout spots to connect with public safety staff. Waclawski said nearly 7,000 people have visited the center. 

Other business owners and staff said the neighborhood and their business recovered quickly after the shooting. Tony Nicklow, 51, owner of Tony’s Diner on Fourth Street, said local crime seems cyclical. “Now there are a lot more police around, even on horses on the weekends just keeping the peace and having a big presence, literally,” he said. “After the shooting, there have been more police than before.”

Ava Uebersetzig, 20, moved from the small suburb of Waunakee, Wisc. to Minneapolis for school, and said living in Dinkytown and working at Mesa Pizza has been an overall positive experience. She also said the neighborhood can be kind of scary at night.

“If I’m here until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., I always have my boyfriend come and pick me up and walk me home, or always make sure a couple of my roommates can come,” Uebersetzig said. “That late at night you never really know who’s all around. I always keep pepper spray on me just in case.”

Meanwhile, Roger Herron, a local artist and barber at K Signature Barbershop, said he is all-in on Dinkytown, which he calls “the safest place in the whole United States.”

“It’s actually safer than Minneapolis because it’s the college campus, so you got a little extra chill and more intelligence or awareness,” Herron said. “I feel like it’s the best place in the world.”