A call about a possible overdose in the early morning hours of July 21, 2023, brought Minneapolis police to the Whittier neighborhood near Nicollet Avenue and Cecil Newman Lane. Officers found 34-year-old Hispanic resident of St. Paul Alex Uel Castro Funes unresponsive just before 5:30 a.m.; he had suffered a single gunshot wound to his right arm. He was taken to a nearby hospital but later died, and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide.

The initial overdose report proved to be a grim misdirection in a pre-dawn scene of violence. In the days after the shooting, few details about what led to the gunfire were released. The Minneapolis Police Department opened an investigation, and as of late July 2023 no arrests or public suspect identifications had been announced and the case remained open.

If anyone was in the Whittier area that morning or has information that could help investigators, please come forward to the authorities handling the case.