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Crime, Law and Justice
Matt Sepic, Chandra Colvin and Estelle Timar-Wilcox
Minneapolis

Man charged in 2 shootings near Minneapolis encampments, suspected in 3rd

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A Bemidji man is facing charges in connection with two shootings — including one fatal — near two Minneapolis homeless encampments.

Prosecutors say Joshua Anthony Jones fatally shot Robert Milton Brown, 39, point blank Wednesday afternoon in an alley near 25th Street and Bloomington Ave. The attack was recorded on surveillance video.

Jones — an alleged member of the Native Mob gang who has an extensive criminal history — is also charged with shooting and wounding a second man near another encampment several blocks away. Prosecutors say the victim identified Jones, 36, as the shooter.

In a statement, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said police are investigating Jones in connection with a third shooting in which Roland Scott Littleowl, 20, was killed before dawn on Wednesday.

“Although this attack does not appear to have been targeted at the broader unhoused community, we know that that is little comfort to them,” Moriarty added.

Officers arrested Jones at gunpoint Wednesday evening after he allegedly refused their commands to stop.

Law enforcement cleared the encampments, which organizers called “senseless collective punishment” to encampment residents.

Christin Crabtree is an encampment organizer. She says there is a lack of adequate services for unhoused people in Hennepin County.

“I don’t know when our administration is going to realize that unhoused people are victims of violence as well, and that often they are the most vulnerable people to issues of violence,” Crabtree said.

Crabtree said evicting encampment residents does not solve the housing issue that many face in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, speaking alongside Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara on Wednesday, said he wants to see the city and the county collaborate further to stop encampments from forming.

“We believe in providing people with deeply affordable housing. We believe in providing people with low or no barrier housing. We believe in an upstream approach to make sure that people get the care to prevent addiction and the treatment to heal from it,” Frey said. “And at the same time, we can’t make it convenient to set up these encampments.”