In the early morning hours of August 29, 2017, Robert Tousignant, a 55-year-old White / Caucasian male, was fatally shot while sitting in his parked car in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The incident occurred around 5 a.m. outside of FreedomWorks, a Christian-based transitional house in the Cleveland neighborhood where he had been living for over two years.
Tousignant was reportedly smoking and playing games on his phone, a daily routine before he left for his construction job.
The fatal encounter appeared to stem from a brief and seemingly minor dispute. A man in a hooded sweatshirt approached Tousignant and gestured as if asking for a cigarette. After Tousignant apparently refused, the man walked away, only to return moments later. He then produced a chrome handgun and fired a single shot at point-blank range to the back of Tousignant's head. A resident of the house discovered him unconscious and bleeding in his vehicle and called 911, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The entire event was captured on a security camera. Despite this footage and appeals from law enforcement and Tousignant's family for information, the shooter remained at large in the immediate aftermath of the killing. Minneapolis police investigated the homicide, the city's 24th of the year, but had very few leads and no immediate suspects. The community and Tousignant’s family, including his adult daughter, were left seeking answers and justice for a man they described as caring and giving, who was working to overcome past struggles with addiction. An impromptu memorial of flowers and balloons was created at the scene to honor his memory.
