MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara addressed the second straight weekend of violence that occurred on the same downtown corner and involved teenagers.
Shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday, five people were shot, two fatally, near N. 5th Street and Hennepin Avenue.
A week earlier an SUV drove into a crowd after a fight on the same downtown corner — 5th and Hennepin.
"While we have still not ruled out a connection between this past weekend's violence and the hit-and-run (from the) week before we are deeply concerned with what we have seen downtown in that it involves a congregation of juveniles," said Chief O'Hara Monday afternoon. "Teenagers are coming downtown that are too young to drink that are congregating in the area of 5th and Hennepin, getting involved in fights and other activities."
Chief O'Hara thanked the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office for deploying extra uniformed and non-uniformed deputies in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday night. He also thanked community-based organizations such as Violence Interrupters.
Chief O'Hara said he will have additional help moving forward including mounted officers.
"There will be officers on horseback at bar close which is very helpful because they are much higher above in the crowds and part of the confusion this past weekend was that the crowd was so dense," said Chief O'Hara. "Officers were physically present at times when fights were going on and the shooting was close by... but there's just so many people they couldn't tell who was doing what."
Chief O'Hara said he is taking a closer look at downtown vendor licensing, the possibility that alcohol is being sold to minors and the teens' curfews.
