Police investigating after 8 wounded in south Minneapolis shooting
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Minneapolis police are investigating another shooting in which multiple people were wounded. Three adults and five juveniles were hurt Sunday evening outside a neighborhood grocery store on East Franklin Avenue near Chicago Avenue south of downtown.
There were no fatalities, and authorities say none of the eight victims suffered life-threatening injuries.
According to a statement from Minneapolis police, officers from the third precinct responded to a call from Metro Transit Police, who were in the area and reported automatic gunfire outside the Minneapolis Market.
Officers put tourniquets on three people to stop bleeding; they also encountered a fourth person who’d suffered a bullet graze wound. Medics took the four in multiple ambulances to HCMC.
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Three other people came to HCMC on their own with non-life threatening gunshot wounds, and a boy arrived at Children's Hospital, also with a gunshot wound.
The victims include a 48-year-old man, a 45-year-old woman, and an 18-year-old man. The others are five juvenile boys including a 17-year-old, three aged 16, and a 15-year-old.
Police said they’re still trying to identify the people who were involved and what the motive for the shooting may have been.
“We have information indicating that at least two gunman fled from the scene on foot northbound on Elliott Avenue from Franklin Avenue,” Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a news conference Sunday recorded by KARE-11. “We believe that at least one assault weapon was used in this incident. We're asking for anyone with information to contact the Minneapolis Police.”
Investigators say they recovered at least 41 cartridge casings from three different calibers including .223, which is common in military-style rifles.
Despite this incident and another unrelated mass shooting at a south Minneapolis punk show in which a man was killed, the number of shootings citywide is trending downward.
There have been nearly 4,300 shots fired calls so far this year according to the city’s crime dashboard. That’s down from more than 6,100 at the same time last year. The number of gunshot wound victims has fallen sharply too — from 374 to 241. Those figures are still far above pre-pandemic levels.
Outside the Minneapolis Market on Monday afternoon, Tyrese Baker, 47, said he was nearby when the gunfire started.
“I was on the other side of the building and the bus stop and it was just rapid fire,” Baker said. “So I ducked down, scared for my life. I come around the corner and I see people lay down.”
Automatic weapons are turning up more frequently at scenes of violent crime in the Twin Cities and across the country.
It’s easy to convert a legal semi-automatic rifle or pistol into an illegal machine gun by using what’s known as a switch or auto sear. This allows the shooter to hold down the trigger and fire until the magazine is empty.
Auto sears are inexpensive and can be 3D printed. Last week, at a news conference about an anti-gang enforcement effort, Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said auto sears are a key focus of local and federal investigators.
“More and more of our violent crime cases involve fully automatic machine guns, typically Glocks equipped with a switch,” Luger said.
While police have not indicated if the shooting Sunday was gang-related, at least three of the fourteen alleged gang members charged in federal court last week are suspected of having illegally-modified firearms.