A former “violence interrupter” from a nonprofit group meant to help Minnesota police was detained Saturday on drug and weapons charges.
The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office arrested Saaundre Burns for allegedly selling cocaine or methamphetamine, selling heroin or fentanyl, a controlled substance crime, and illegal gun or ammo possession, county records show. Burns was a team lead for Teaching Our Urban Communities Hope Outreach, which deploys violence prevention workers whom Minneapolis has contracted as a proactive response to crime in troubled areas. His biography remained on TOUCH Outreach’s website as of Wednesday, but Burns has not been a member of the group for about a month due to medical issues, Executive Director Muhammad Abdul-Ahad told the Washington Examiner.
The Minneapolis nonprofit organization received more than $2.1 million in overall public funds since 2023, according to its latest available tax filings. Burns’s arrest reflects a pattern of similar violence prevention activists getting charged with crimes in liberal cities…