Reporter's Notebook: Processing This Loss

This is not exactly what I want to write about. But it is necessary. 

Fair warning, this will not be an obituary. 

From what is known, on April 12, 2024, a 33-year-old man was at his family’s garage condo inside the Chanhassen AutoPlex, southwest of Minneapolis. A visitor came by that condo and proceeded to murder that young man. Hours later, the assailant took his own life at his apartment near downtown Minneapolis. 

This particular incident is still under investigation by the State of Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, along with the Carver County Sherriff and the Minneapolis Police Department. Therefore, I cannot comment any further from what is known above. Nor will I name the assailant, who is also deceased. This is to protect the families and friends involved. 

One name will pop up here – Erik Berger. 

I name him because he was someone I knew and hung out within the local car culture. 

Berger should not have been killed. He should still be here. 

For those of you who don’t know him, Berger was living his best life being a steward to his family’s car collection – including his own. He also had a group of friends that do some amazing automotive things – and adventures. 

Who would do a 24-hour turn from the Twin Cities to Kansas City and back? As long as we had breakfast at Waffle House, a beer at Boulevard Brewing Company, some good barbeque on the Kansas side and grab some Krispy Kreme donuts on the way out of town.

I was on one of those 24-hour runs to Kansas City. You have to have the energy to do it, but Berger and our friends did so. 

Recently. I kept hearing about some epic runs Berger and our friends took to Pike’s Peak and to a Buc-ee’s down in Texas. If that’s not automotive enthusiasm, then what is? 

I would see Berger at the garage condo in Chanhassen. Or, at a Sunday morning car meet in Saint Paul – just down the street from my home. And, at Drive Cartel’s Cars and Crafts monthly meet at Saint Paul Brewing.

Should I mention the podcast he would do with Ryan Senensky? 

If you knew him, you understand him. You get his humor. You are interested in the automobile as much as he. You learn to drive manual and live with cats. You might get your own Pusheen plush toy. 

My first recollection of meeting Berger was at a pre-Polar Run event. If I recall, he was running a somewhat ratchet BMW 3-Series made just for fun. Was it a 5-Series? He always had something that prompted conversations – sometimes sideways. That was Erik’s charm.

On April 12, someone robbed him of his life. It has caused a stir across the car scene in the Twin Cities. It created a deeper canyon among many groups of people. 

Why should you care? 

Think about someone in your life that you knew very well. All of the sudden, they’re gone. Their life was taken away by another person. 

Imagine being at junior high and one of your friends did not come back from the weekend. You see one of their siblings upset because someone else took that person’s life. Rather, their clique collectively trying to grieve. That was my late 1970s at Sequoia Junior High in Reseda where three of my friends were gone – just like that.

As a 60-year-old member of the media, that same feeling repeated itself. 

My feelings about this incident were compounded by many things. Let me spell out how…

At first, I felt duped. Not knowing what happened the day before, I was alerted through doom scrolling on Facebook of a missing person and a video that was posted about what the assailant would do. The timeline on social media did not add up compared to the actual sequence of events. After using V&R’s Facebook to try to report what was going on, I ended up taking down those posts and leaving a message accordingly. 

My soul would eventually succumb to a medical episode. The weight of this incident – along with other factors – almost did me in. This, after inviting a few friends for pizza and healing. 

After I was revived and sent home from the hospital, it was a slow build back up towards healing and grieving. A few meetings with friends – some I have not seen in months or years – also helped ease the pain and anger. 

Let me talk about anger for a moment. I am still angry not only about what transpired on April 12. Rather the current state of the car scene.

This goes beyond divisions. For years, I likened parts of the local car scene to the book Lord of The Flies. If you read the book, you’ll understand where I am going with this. 

A friend of mine told me some decade or so ago that I should be careful with the car scene. About being snake bitten by it. I suppose I need some anti-venom from what has transpired this past month. Or, some other resolution from it. 

Let’s be honest…you can't hold hands with people who are not 100% on board with everyone else and sing "Kumbaya." There will be people who are still angry, sad, hateful, etc. Grief takes time.

Here's a tip to loving the automobile or any sort of interest/passion you are involved with – whether you're a spectator, a participant, media, industry or communications person: Be interested. Be curious. Engage. Have a conversation. Share knowledge. Show genuine interest. Be respectful. Do so without judgement.

You might make a good contact, colleague, friend, etc. 

To the Berger family, please accept my deepest condolences. Your son/brother should have not been taken away from us. 

Now that car season is underway here in the Upper Midwest, I really do not know where I will be. Where I will either spectate or participate. If you do see me, understand that I am working through this. Understand that I am still angry at what happened. Just be respectful. 

Just be kind to one another. 

All Photos by Randy Stern