On February 23, 2026, 23-year-old Akwane Davron Shaquelle Stewart was fatally shot inside a home on the 4200 block of Irving Avenue North in Minneapolis. His 14-year-old brother, Xavier Barnett, was also killed in the same incident. Stewart, described as a creative and thoughtful painter, and his brother were found by a sister who had arrived to discover the younger children hiding in a closet and the two brothers on the floor.

Their grandmother and four other children, ages seven to ten, were in the residence but were not physically harmed. The suspected shooter was identified as the victims’ 23-year-old cousin, Eddie Darren Duncan, who had been released from Hennepin County Jail hours earlier after bail was posted on charges of fleeing a police officer and possession of a machine gun; the county attorney’s office had reportedly sought higher bail, calling him a public safety risk. A manhunt ended later that day in Brooklyn Center when officers located Duncan outside an IHOP on the 5600 block of Xerxes Avenue North and shot him after an exchange of gunfire.

Family members held a vigil for the brothers, remembered as caring uncles and devoted students, and said the deaths felt preventable. If anyone knew Akwane Stewart, Xavier Barnett, or has information about the events that day, please come forward.