Minneapolis Thugs With Sawed-Off Shotguns

Situated near the proposed site of the Twins Stadium, Lee's Liquor Lounge has gone two decades without being robbed. It's tough to escape unscathed in today's Minneapolis, and this bar will be no exception, as the Red Star reports: "Robbery was latest blow for Minneapolis bar owner".

Louie Sirian, the resilient owner of the downtown Minneapolis watering hole and music club, lost his wife of 45 years to a heart attack and his daughter to cancer in recent months.

Then on Monday afternoon, Sirian was robbed by two masked men who stormed into the bar with sawed-off shotguns and allegedly took thousands of dollars.

"After all I've been through, looking down the barrel of a shotgun didn't even scare me like it should have," said Sirian, 70.

Monday's robbery took place around 6:15 p.m. The dozen or so customers were ordered to get on the floor while Sirian went into the office to hand over his money, he said.

That this robbery occurred in broad daylight should come as no surprise. What's disturbing is that this is the time families would be heading toward the new stadium for a Twins ballgame.

Thugs bearing sawed-off shotguns and Twins fans in close proximity are not a good mix.

The two men fled within a few minutes in a van left running outside the bar, at 101 Glenwood Av. near the proposed site for the new Twins stadium. It was the first robbery at the 130-year-old bar in about two decades.

A police spokesman called the crime "highly uncommon" because of the time of day and the tactics used by the gunmen, who even covered up the license plate of their van.

Mr. Sirian sounds like a resilient guy who, like many before him, has fallen into the Minneapolis Quagmire.