MINNEAPOLIS - Minneapolis Police are pledging once again to improve safety in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood, following an attempted abduction this month and a reported sexual assault in August.
The sexual assault happened after police say a man broke into a home. The attempted abduction happened in a parking lot of a property on 6th Street Southeast, where a University of Minnesota student told police a man tried to grab her as she was taking the trash out last Thursday morning.
"That's very serious and very scary, and traumatic," 2nd Precinct Inspector Todd Loining said.
Loining told a group of neighbors on Monday that the attempted abduction happened at the same building as a reported shooting in February. That shooting, part of a string of crimes this winter, prompted police to increase patrols in Marcy-Holmes.
Now, police have been working with that specific landlord to improve lighting and security — and ban subletting including Air BNB.
"We talked about their premise security plan in place," Loining said, "and we gave them a lot of recommendations on how to improve security."
With 262 violent crimes reported in 2019, the 2nd Precinct — which includes Marcy-Holmes — is the safest district in the city of Minneapolis.
But some neighbors, like longtime Marcy-Holmes resident Craig Harris, say the crime problem hasn't been entirely solved. He also worries that the building boom in the area, which is located near both the U and downtown, is leaving people less connected and less aware.
"Get to know people, so that we all know who we all are," Harris said, "and that we all work together to keep the neighborhood safe."