More than 500 people come together to search for missing Anoka bartender
A northern Twin Cities metro community is putting their pain and worry into action.
More than 500 people gathered in downtown Anoka on Sunday to search for their missing friend and co-worker, Brandon Stott.
The 40-year-old U.S. Marine veteran hasn't been seen since Tuesday.
"Brandon is the heartbeat of Anoka, and right now our hearts are on pause," said Darin Crapser, co-owner of Tavern 201, where Stott worked for the last eight years as a bartender.
"He is a guy you will meet for one minute and you will not forget him," said Gloria Nelson, co-owner of Tavern 201. "As soon as it got out that we hadn't seen Brandon, this town just activated."
The last day that Stott's co-workers saw him was at Tavern 201, but it was his off day and he came in as a customer. His boss noticed he seemed a little different than usual.
"He was a little more emotional, and then he took off for home, and we haven't seen or heard from him since and that's just incredibly out of character," Nelson said.
Volunteers spread out throughout 10 different areas in and around Anoka to start searching for Stott on Sunday.
No matter how brief the interaction with Stott at the bar, patrons of Tavern 201 wanted to help.
"It didn't matter to him if you were a regular or not, if he had time to chit chat with you, very polite, very nice guy," Lisa Giddings, who showed up to help search, said.
For her, this effort to find Stott is personal. She lost a cousin who was missing for several months in Fargo a few years ago, and knows the importance of a boots on the ground search effort.
"The faster you can start searching, the better, because as they say when a person goes missing, time is a huge factor to have, you hope, a good outcome," Giddings said.
Anyone with information on Stott's whereabouts is asked to contact the Anoka Police Department.
"This is us showing him that we love him," Nelson said.
"We just need to figure out something, find out something one way or another. We're hoping for the best," said Crapser.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress, get help from the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Trained crisis counselors are available 24 hours a day to talk about anything.
In addition, help is available from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. Call the NAMI Helpline at 800-950-6264 or text "HelpLine" to 62640. There are more than 600 local NAMI organizations and affiliates across the country, many of which offer free support and education programs.
