Dead rodents inside 2312 Lyndale Ave South

EXCLUSIVE: Inside look at a Minneapolis squatters’ haven

By Crime Watch MN, Dec. 4, 2022

Minneapolis fire fighters were on site of a structure fire early Saturday morning at a vacant building at 2312 Lyndale Avenue South.

The Minneapolis Fire Department was live tweeting during the incident and tweeted at one point that “several squatters were inside the building.”

MFD said that one squatter had jumped from the second floor and was being evaluated by medics.

2312 on fire (Shelley Jean/Facebook)

A second alarm was eventually called on the fire. Picture above was posted by a Crime Watch follower on Facebook. Picture below was submitted to Crime Watch.

We also obtained several other exclusive photos from inside the structure that were taken about six weeks ago, prior to the fire, along with commentary from the person who took the photos. Verbiage in “quotes” below the photos is from the person who submitted the photos.

The person who provided the photos told Crime Watch that they’ve been raising concern with the city over the condition of the building and its inhabitants for months.

The person who provided the photos said there is no running water in the structure; thus, no working bathrooms. “I can’t rid myself of the smell,” they told Crime Watch.

The person said the condition of the building was “shocking,” as the photos below show.

The person also told us they wouldn’t have been able to count the discarded needles even if they were “Rain Man.”

“This was called the ‘party room.’ There was a mattress next to the water heater. The picture shows the sub-basement of the boiler room…that’s taken from four feet up. That 5–6 feet of garbage piled up 10–20 feet [in areas].”

“That’s a pile of mice…lured by what I assume was a bottle of poisoned maple syrup.”

The dead mice

“That’s a cup of pee with if I remember correctly a sanitary pad dunked in it…that was in a unit called the baby room; adjacent to this was pristine bedroom with several cribs…on the other side, a nest consisting of a mattress on the floor surrounded by used needles and cigarette butts.”

“The cleanest hallway.”

“A living room.”

“Another living room.”

According to Minneapolis property records, the structure is owned by C David George, and this is the second recent fire at one of his vacant properties. In September, a vacant structure owned by George in the Loring Park neighborhood was damaged by fire.

We’ve also received information that MFD may still be investigating whether there may have been people inside the structure who were not able to escape during the fire.

As always, follow us on Twitter for the latest developments, news, and real-time information.

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