MINNEAPOLIS — A 57-year-old was arrested Wednesday after police said he shot another adult at a gathering of family and friends. The Minneapolis police chief expressed frustration at the latest shooting, calling it "unnecessary."
It happened on the 3200 blocks of Blaisdell Avenue in Minneapolis Wednesday around 5:40 p.m., Minneapolis Police said in a press release. There was a verbal argument at the family gathering that officials said "escalated to gunfire." Police described the victim's gunshot wound as "non-life-threatening."
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara expressed frustration with the incident in the press release.
“This is just another frustrating example of people settling their disputes with guns," Chief O’Hara said in the press release. “Instead of de-escalating and walking away, this individual apparently resorted to gun violence and now several lives are negatively impacted for years to come. It is so unnecessary.”
While this case wasn't fatal, there has been an uptick in murders in recent weeks. Then on Tuesday, a man was hospitalized after a shooting on the 2400 block of Bloomington Avenue South. Law enforcement said the man was walking in an alley when someone fired at them.
When speaking to KARE 11 last week, O'Hara said that the city is seeing a similar number of shootings as in 2023.
“We do need to do things differently because we simply don’t have the manpower the city had before we had this level of violence, let alone now,” O’Hara told KARE 11 last week.
Looking at violent crime in the seven-county metro area, a report from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension showed a drop of 8.2% in 2023.
