MINNEAPOLIS — Six people were injured in two separate shootings that happened just minutes and blocks apart on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis early Saturday, Minneapolis police say.
According to the Minneapolis Police Department, a shooting on the 400 block of Hennepin Ave. at 2:33 a.m. Saturday left a man in his 20s with potentially life-threatening injuries. At the scene, police say additional squads from all five precincts and Metro Transit Police had to be called in to handle the "uncooperative, aggressive crowd," and to provide safety for officers providing medical aid to the man.
Minneapolis police say no one arrested in connection to this shooting.
Minutes later at 2:37 a.m., on the 800 block of Hennepin Ave., police say another reported shooting was called in and officers found a man in his 30s with potentially life-threatening injuries from gunshot wounds. At the scene, officers also found a woman in her late 20s with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound and a man in his 50s with potentially life-threatening gunshot wounds.
While officers were at the scene, police say two people, a woman and a man in their 20s, arrived at North Memorial Medical Center in separate vehicles with apparent non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Police say initial evidence suggests that gunfire started near the intersection of 8th Street and Hennepin Avenue, and everyone who was shot was outside the intersection at the time.
Officers arrested one woman for an outstanding warrant, Minneapolis police say, and no other arrests have been made in connection to the shooting.
The Minneapolis Police Department says it is unknown if the two shootings are connected.
Steve Cramer, the president and CEO of Minneapolis Downtown Council released the following statement Saturday in response to the overnight shootings:
Our downtown, like downtowns across the country, is experiencing a rise in use of firearms and other criminal behaviors. Many law enforcement entities are working together to keep our community safe. But they need our support now more than ever. We are also working with the private sector to provide more non-policing strategies to fill gaps in coverage.
Violent criminal behavior is simply unacceptable, and we cannot tolerate it as a community—especially as we work to support bringing more vibrancy back to our downtown.
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