MINNEAPOLIS — After the city recorded 10 violent incidents in the span of four days, Minneapolis Police requested assistance this weekend from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and the BCA for help with investigations and patrols.
Chief Brian O'Hara said the three murders and six shootings Saturday night into Sunday morning were more than the entire previous week combined.
"I understand that as we move forward, we will have spikes. We will have bad days. We will have bad weekends. We will have bad weeks," O'Hara said at a Sunday news conference. "But it is very frustrating."
According to MPD data, the city has now reached 38 homicides on the year, outpacing 2023 totals and far above pre-pandemic levels.
However, since a significant spike in crime starting in 2020, violent incidents have largely been trending downward, including in parts of north Minneapolis.
"Just having a presence, prevents," said Trahern Pollard, founder of the violence intervention group We Push For Peace. "I think we are trending in the right direction. Obviously, when you have a spike in crimes, like you did this past weekend — it makes everyone say, 'well, hold on a minute.' Well, don't hold on. Those were separate entities."
During his news conference, O'Hara did not give specifics about where the added patrols would specifically be allocated, but he did mention the Penn Avenue corridor as an area of concern. (The two-block span on Penn Avenue North between 32nd and 34th avenues experienced two murders and a non-fatal shooting last week).
Earlier this month, KARE 11 met with another violence prevention group known as "21 Days of Peace" during outreach efforts at 36th and Penn.
"I think that's a hotspot right now," Bishop Richard Howell of Shiloh Temple International Ministries said, "that needs more of our attention."
O'Hara said police have made multiple arrests in that area of Penn Avenue in recent days, as they continue to focus resources on the area.
Bishop Howell said faith leaders and violence prevention groups are working on the problem, too.
"I don't want to hear another gunshot. I don't want to hear about another stabbing," Howell said. "I want to see our community working together in peace."