MINNEAPOLIS (BN24) — Thirteen people were injured, including five critically, in two mass shootings that erupted hours apart Monday at homeless encampments in Minneapolis, prompting city officials to raise alarms over growing public safety concerns.
The violence marked the fourth and fifth mass shootings in the city within three weeks, following a high-profile school shooting on Aug. 27 that left two children dead and 21 others wounded.
“This is tragic. It isn’t very good. It’s unacceptable, and, sadly, it’s not surprising,” Mayor Jacob Frey said during a news conference early Tuesday, adding he wouldn’t be surprised if the two incidents were connected.
The most recent shooting unfolded around 10 p.m. Monday at a well-known encampment located near South 28th Avenue and East Lake Street in southeast Minneapolis. Police Chief Brian O’Hara said a Minneapolis officer working security at a nearby Target store was alerted by several people running in panic and reporting gunfire at the encampment.
The officer reportedly heard the shots as he left the store and rushed toward the scene. Responding officers found five victims at the site, including a man and a woman inside tents who had both been shot in the head, O’Hara said. Three additional victims later arrived at area hospitals on their own.
O’Hara confirmed that at least four of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries. Investigators recovered multiple shell casings and believe an exchange of gunfire may have occurred between someone inside the encampment and an unidentified shooter.
While police were still on scene, a fire broke out in one of the tents, requiring fire crews to respond and extinguish the blaze. No arrests have been made, and investigators have not identified any suspects publicly.
Earlier that same day, just after 11 a.m., gunfire erupted at another homeless encampment less than a mile away, near East Lake Street and Stevens Avenue. Five people were injured in that incident, including one person who remained in critical condition.
“While the investigation is still very, very preliminary, that is certainly something that we can’t rule out, and, of course, it’s something that we are considering,” O’Hara said when asked if the two shootings could be connected.
Mayor Frey echoed the concern, pointing out that the site of the second shooting, at South 28th Avenue, had long been a source of tension. He said city officials had made repeated efforts to clear the encampment, which sits on private property, but were met with resistance from the landowner.
“These homeless encampments are not safe either for the people that are in them, nor are they safe for the surrounding neighborhood,” Frey said. “We’ve been saying this for months.”
The twin shootings come as the city continues to reel from a string of violent events. Just days earlier, on Aug. 26, six people were shot—one fatally—at the corner of East 29th Street and Clinton Avenue South when a gunman opened fire with a high-powered rifle. Police said more than 30 rounds were fired, but no arrests have been made in that case either.
In the Annunciation Catholic School shooting on Aug. 27, the 23-year-old suspect, Robin Westman, died by suicide after killing two children and injuring 21 others. Authorities are still investigating the motives behind that attack.
Chief O’Hara said the city continues to face a troubling surge in gun violence and called the recent string of mass shootings “not normal.”
“We are again standing in the aftermath of another mass shooting,” he said. “This cannot become accepted as part of life in Minneapolis.”
