This video is a production by Unicorn Riot. View their full article here, with key portions of it reproduced in italics below.

On the evening of Dec. 2, 2021, Kjellberg called the non-emergency number seeking to get a car ticketed and impounded for being parked on his property on the 1700 block of 7th street on Saint Paul’s eastside. Kjellberg, a white man, brought a weapon with him to confront the driver and prevent the car from leaving until the tow truck arrived. The driver, Stewart, a Black man, was visiting friends and family who lived on the same block as Kjellberg.  

When Stewart went outside to leave, Kjellberg escalated the situation and physically prevented Stewart from getting in his car. Stewart gave Kjellberg verbal commands to move but Kjellberg refused. This is when Kjellberg alleges that Stewart punched him in the face. Kjellberg then stabbed Stewart several times in the heart with a homemade shank he crafted from a metal pipe, killing Stewart.  

Stewart’s family disputes Kjellberg’s claim that AJ punched him before he was fatally stabbed. They described the 27 year-old as “goofy” and said “he enjoyed doing community service and promoting positivity to teenagers in his free time,” which contradicts the violent behavior alleged by Kjellberg. 

The murder trial for Kjellberg starts on March 27, 2023 at 8:30am at Ramsey County Courthouse in Minnesota. IF YOU ARE IN THE AREA, CONSIDER SITTING IN THE TRIAL IN SOLIDARITY.

There has been a call for supporters and legal observers to help with court watch to monitor the trial to ensure transparency.

“The focus of our organizing efforts is really not a demand on the system. It’s a, dare I say, demand on the people…We are in a society of social contradiction in which the collective in which you actually exist…lives in absolute contradiction with another group, this white ruling class. And what’s profitable for them, what’s safe for them, what’s power for them, is destruction for you. So you know, AJ is really just another alarm.” 

Tongo Eisen-Martin, cousin of victim Arnell “AJ” Stewart