Wallin draws thousands to Pequot Lakes for memorial service, laid to rest in Nisswa private ceremony

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – Flags flew at half-staff in Minnesota and North Dakota on Saturday in honor and remembrance of fallen Fargo Police Officer Jake Wallin.  The funeral for 23-year-old Wallin was Saturday morning in Pequot Lakes and was attended by more than 3,000 people.

Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski: “Jake Wallin and his family will never be forgotten. As part of our commitment to them we are completing the process to honor his service and sacrifice in a manner in which his family wishes.”

The processional with Wallin’s remains, which were cremated while wearing his police uniform, left Fargo around 5:30 am on Saturday. 

People lined up along Highway 10 from Dilworth to Motley with flags and signs to pay their respects and show support for the Fargo Police Department, which followed Wallin with two charter buses full of officers and staff. 

Cass County Sheriff and West Fargo Police expanded their services so the entire FPD department could attend the funeral. 

Wallin was laid to rest in a private ceremony with full military honors in Nisswa. 

Zibolski said the department is still in mourning and working through this catastrophic loss.  He invites everyone to a public celebration of life for Officer Wallin on Wednesday afternoon at Scheel’s Arena in Fargo.

Fargo shooter searched for area events in the Fargo-Moorhead area ahead of shooting

The man responsible for Wallin’s death and injuring two other Fargo police officers and wounding a 25-year-old Fargo woman had an extensive computer search history.   

In a news conference on Friday, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said Mohamed Barakat was interested in community events in the days leading up to the shooting and his other online searches included the terms “explosive ammo” and “kill fast.”   
“Mass shooting event, chillingly, area events, area events where there are crowds in the Fargo-Moorhead area, Cass County area, all around,” said Wrigley. “He singled out a few as he went along. and on the last search, on the last night, at 10:30 p.m. on July 13, quote, thousands enjoy first day of downtown Fargo street fair.” 

Barakat used what’s known as a “binary trigger” on the modified rifle he used to shoot the victims on July 14. 

The modification allowed him to quickly fire up to 60 rounds in a matter of seconds.  

Barakat migrated to this country from Syria in 2012 and eventually became a U.S. citizen in 2019.   

Wrigley said Barakat was driven by hate and wanted to kill.   

And in response to inquiries about the shooter’s possible motive, Wrigley said he didn’t seem particularly focused on a specific group of people or any specific individual, it was simply to kill. 

“There have been inquiries about the why, what’s the motive?” said Wrigley. “I’ve been in and out of law enforcement for 30 years and you might be surprised to know how many times you finish up and you are still scratching your head. motive, the obvious motive to kill. I mean, driven by hate, driven by wanting to kill. Not particularized to some group that we can discern at this moment. not particularized to one individual that we can see. The horrible winds of fate, that’s the best explanation I have for you for how he saw those officers on the way to where we believed he was going.” 

He also commended the courage of Fargo Police Officer Zach Robinson who protected his fellow officers and an injured bystander, and ultimately saved the community from a much deeper tragedy. 

“One officer remaining, if he goes down, what, five, six blocks to downtown Fargo,” he said. “The heroics it took to preserve the lives of Karlee, of Andrew, of Tyler, there wouldn’t have been enough emergency personnel within a three-state area to meet the needs.” 

Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski said the two injured officers remain hospitalized, but their recovery is not “insurmountable.”

Northwest Water Carnival wraps its 87th year as Detroit Lakes’ annual summer festival

The 87th Northwest Water Carnival officially came to a close on Sunday.

The last weekend of the ten-day summer festival kicked off on Friday with Kegs and Eggs at The Pavilion in Detroit Lakes with the KFAN Power Trip Morning Show for Minneapolis entertaining the packed crowd with their Initials Game and friendly banter.

That evening, the focus turned to City Beach where 90s west coast rock ban Everclear took to the sand and played before about 500 screaming fans along Detroit Lake.

As Friday night’s concert was winding down, Kyle Pereira, co-admiral for the Water Carnival, said the Detroit Lakes Jaycees have done an amazing job putting on this year’s festival.

“We’re out here every night and we’re out here four hours before the event starts and three hours after it ends,” said Perreira. “We don’t got that many members, but we just do what we can.”

Saturday’s featured events included a softball tournament, pet and kiddie parade and the resurgence of the Chili Cook-off, which teamed up with the Home Brew Tasting event at Bucks Mill Brewery at noon.

Less than one hour later, two crockpots of chili had been devoured and the home brewers from Dunn Didder, a partnership of two home brewers located south of Audubon, were running out of beer.

Tim Henrikson, one of the Dunn Didder’s brewers, said he and his brother-in-law, Jeff Svare have been brewing beer together for the last four or five years with the hopes of eventually opening their own brewery somewhere in the lakes area down the road. But until then, they hope to continue meeting homebrewers at these events and talking shop with them.

“We want more homebrewers to come out and do it,” said Henrikson. “More chili, more beer, sounds like a party.”

Only four chilis were entered into this year’s chili cookoff, but, at the rate they were consumed, Erika Martin, Jaycees event organizer for the chili cookoff, said the hope to expand the event next year.

“The chili cook-off used to be a big event at Water Carnival and there were a lot of people that came,” said Martin. “So, we need to get it advertised that we’re back and running because we had two years where we were not running, so we lost that momentum, so we need to just get it advertised.”

She also said they may need to beef up their condiment table next year since many on the toppings were gone in the first hour of the three-hour event, which seemed segway into the question: what makes the perfect chili?

“I do like a little bit of a heat,” she said. “And maybe we do need more condiments because the sour cream with a little bit of the heat goes hand-in-hand.”

Saturday night, Country star Craig Morgan took the sandy stage for night two of the Bash on the Beach.

And then, on Sunday, the cherry on top of the summer festival was the annual Parade of the Northwest, which featured lakes area fire departments and law enforcement, as well as, numerous floats from community organizations and businesses.

And yes, the El Zagal Shiners from Fargo had their little go-carts dancing through one another along the parade route in perfect symmetry as the floats made their way down Washington Avenue to West Lake Drive.

Hot and muggy temperatures expected in lakes area this week

A late July heat wave is expected in Minnesota this week.  National Weather Service Meteorologist Melissa Dye says the southern half of the state could flirt with triple-digit highs.

“We are looking at temperatures to be in the mid to upper 90s for Wednesday, Thursday and possibly into Friday,” said Dye. “But the other concern with this is that our dew points will be quite high. So they’ll be in that muggy uncomfortable territory.”

Temps in the Lakes Area could peak in the low to mid 90s this week.

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