One man is dead and 11 people suffered non-life-threatening wounds in a shooting in Minneapolis, police there said early Sunday.
Minneapolis police had first said 10 people had been shot with “various severity levels of injuries,” but revised their total upward in a tweet posted just after 3 a.m. The man died at the hospital, not at the scene, according to the police daily media briefing sheet.
No one was in custody in connection with the shooting as of 4 a.m., according to a police release that said preliminary investigation indicated that “individuals on foot” started shooting around 12:30 a.m. and later fled the scene.
The area is about 3 miles west of the Minneapolis commercial area and neighbourhood hit by rioting in the wake of George Floyd’s May 25 death after being arrested by Minneapolis police. There was no indication that Saturday’s shooting was related to this.
An initial tweet from Minneapolis police advised the public to avoid the area in Uptown Minneapolis, a commercial district that includes several bars and restaurants. Minnesota began allowing bars and restaurants to reopen with limited service on June 1 after some six weeks of closure because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Photographs posted to social media showed windows at the Landmark’s Uptown Theatre and another storefront shot out.
Screams were audible on a live video posted to Facebook that showed the aftermath at the scene. Small crowds of people gathered, with some crouched over victims lying on the pavement before police officers on bicycles showed up to attend to them. Splatters of blood on the pavement were visible in the video after the victims were taken to local hospitals — some via ambulance and others in private vehicles, according to the police release.
The injured were all adults, the police release said. The victim’s identity will be released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Floyd’s death has sparked a move to overhaul the Minneapolis Police Department, with a majority of City Council members pledging support for dismantling a department that many community activists have called brutal and racist. That’s prompted pushback from opponents who question how citizens will be protected from violent crime. Even the most aggressive proponents for change have acknowledged it’s many months away and they’re not sure what it will look like.