A shooting Monday night at an encampment in south Minneapolis injured eight people — including four who suffered life-threatening gunshot wounds.
The gunfire in the Longfellow neighborhood, near the corner of Lake Street and South 28th Avenue, was the second mass shooting in the city in less than a day. Five people were injured by gunfire Monday morning on Lake Street, about 2 miles west of Monday night’s gunfire.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at the scene of the overnight shooting that investigators are still working to determine whether there is any connection between the two.
There was no update Tuesday morning on the conditions of the victims and no reports of any arrests.
O’Hara said the shooting happened at about 10 p.m. Officers responding to the gunfire found five victims at the scene — three on the sidewalk, two in tents. Three other people wounded in the shooting arrived at local hospitals.
Officers found multiple shell casings in the encampment and O’Hara said there were indications that at least two people fired guns. While police were at the scene, one of the tents caught fire. O’Hara said it was not clear how the fire started.
The encampment where Monday night’s shooting happened had already been the subject of fines and legal action by the city of Minneapolis.
The owner of the property has been allowing people to stay there, saying it provides a “hub” for people in need of assistance, and is a better option than having unhoused people being constantly on the move from place to place.
Speaking at the scene of Monday night’s shooting, Mayor Jacob Frey said he had not spoken to the property owner following the gunfire — but said that “as soon as this crime scene has been investigated, we’re shutting this thing down. If he wants to sue us, he can. If he wants to take this up in court, that is certainly his prerogative. But this is not safe. This is a danger to the community.”
“The people of Minneapolis deserve peace and safety — all residents of the city deserve that, on their streets and in their neighborhoods and in their homes,” O’Hara said at the news conference. “I know it’s been a lot of violence lately, and we just want our community to know that we are not going to give up, and that we will continue to fight so that every person in this city can be safe.”
