16 May 15 , 2022
which neighbors contended could attract an unscrupulous crowd.
At the corner of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, the store
sat in a minority-majority neighborhood home to nearly 25,
residents and is one of the most dynamic commercial zones in the
city. The area had also become familiar territory for police from the
Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct. Some officers
had marked the store as a known hot spot for gang activity and
crime, while members of the community accused the police of
targeting CUP’s customers for harassment.
Floyd told his former lover that he was on his way to the store.
Hill was thrilled at that news — she needed to buy a new battery for
her cellphone anyway, and she hoped to sneak in a little Floyd time
before picking up her granddaughter, whom she had promised to
babysit that day. Hill boarded the No. 5 bus and headed down to
the corner of 38th and Chicago.
Hall and Floyd got to CUP Foods first. Hall walked to the back
of the store, outside the view of the security cameras, and bought a
tablet for $180. The manager said they needed some time to clean
its hard drive, so instead of waiting around, Hall and Floyd headed
about a mile north, to Lake Street, where Hall bought himself an
iPhone 7.
It was close to 7:30 p.m. when the two friends circled back to
CUP. Floyd parked the Benz across the street, and Hall went inside
to pick up his tablet. He walked down the store’s long, narrow aisles
and past rows of fruits and vegetables to the electronics section,job because he fell asleep at the wheel, he called Ross with a
familiar refrain, “Old Floyd’s done it again.” And Ross welcomed
him back into her life — until they had a falling out over him
hanging out with Maurice Hall so much. The next day was
Memorial Day.
E
vening was beginning to fall that Memorial Day, and Hall still
wanted to drop off clothes at the dry cleaner, get a new
cellphone and shop for a tablet. He thought he could pick one up at
a corner store on Minneapolis’s south side called CUP Foods,
which was known as a spot for buying and selling electronics for
cheap. Floyd was a familiar face at CUP — managers said he’d stop
by once or twice a week.
CUP Foods, which stands for “Chicago Unbeatable Prices” and
was a play on the established chain of local grocery stores called
Cub Foods, was the kind of everything depot that had become a
staple in the community as it expanded its services over three
decades. A wraparound awning above the entrance documented
its diverse offerings in bold white lettering: Stamps, Keys, Phones
& Accessories, Bus Cards, Organic Milk, T-shirts, Mexican Food,
Halal Meat. The store buzzed from morning to evening with
people coming in to buy snacks, grab a quick meal of wings or
sandwiches, get checks cashed, send money via Western Union,
pay bills. The city had largely restricted the sale of menthol
cigarettes in 2017, but they were still available for purchase there —
l Next, they headed to Hall’s hotel
room at the Embassy Suites in
Brooklyn Center.