11 people in wounded in Minneapolis shooting

Updated: 3:25 p.m., June 23 | Posted: 4:11 a.m., June 21

Eleven people were injured in a shooting early Sunday amid crowds gathered along Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood.

Police said they believe there was more than one shooter. As of Sunday evening there were no reports of arrests in the case, and the events that led up to the shooting along Hennepin between Lake Street and Lagoon Avenue remained unclear.

On Tuesday, police corrected their initial report, saying that the man who was believed to have died in the Uptown shooting was instead part of a separate shooting in downtown that morning.

“Through continued in-depth investigation it has come to be learned that the shooting involving this individual occurred in the area of Seventh Street North and First Avenue North,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.

Police say that they didn’t receive shots calls in the area between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m., the presumed time of the downtown shooting, and that confusion among numerous shooting victims at HCMC that morning led to the wrong information.

The name of the man who died has not yet been released.

Fred Hwang of Hoban Korean BBQ on that block told MPR News that many people were out on the sidewalks when shots were fired. He said they were waiting to be allowed into restaurants and bars that were operating at only 50 percent capacity because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"You could see, like, the flash from the gun, and it was like pop-pop-pop-pop-pop. They shot a lot," Hwang recounted.

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said during a Sunday press conference that it was “tragic and senseless violence” and called a recent uptick in violent crime a public health crisis. He said “we absolutely do have several leads” on suspects and are getting assistance from the FBI and state agencies.

According to Minneapolis police:

Authorities received 911 calls at 12:37 a.m. reporting several people shot on the 2900 block of Hennepin Avenue South, just north of Lake Street. It’s the commercial center of the Uptown neighborhood, lined with bars, restaurants and retailers.

"Preliminary investigation reveals that individuals on foot started shooting in the mid-2900 block of Hennepin Avenue South and proceeded north. People scattered and suspects fled," police said in a news release issued shortly after 4 a.m.

The victims were transported to hospitals by ambulance and private vehicle. All are adults.

“We are in the infancy of this investigation, so at this point, we don’t know what truly led up to this shooting,” Minneapolis police spokesperson John Elder told MPR News.

Elder said five detectives are investigating the incident, interviewing witnesses and gathering any surveillance video that may have captured the shooting.

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.

Hwang, from Hoban Korean BBQ, said people took cover inside the restaurant. His security staff later found three different types of shell casings, and there was damage on both sides of the street.

"They shot through all of our front glass and we have bullet holes all over our wall inside," he said. "It completely destroyed our entire storefront."

Shot-out windows also could be seen later Sunday morning at the Uptown Theatre building, including at John Fluevog shoes where employees were sweeping up broken glass.

There has been a rash of gun violence in Minneapolis in recent weeks; the Star Tribune reported that more than 90 people have been shot in Minneapolis since the police killing of George Floyd on May 25.

Minneapolis police said at least seven other people were wounded by gunfire in the city in five incidents from Saturday afternoon through early Sunday morning.

And police said eight people were shot and wounded in a two-hour flurry of gun violence late Tuesday night.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey issued a statement saying that "violence and lawlessness serve no one. The recent string of shootings across our city is only compounding our shared grief. It cannot and will not be tolerated. Chief Arradondo is reaching out to local, state, and federal partners for aid and MPD detectives are working to identify those responsible. Chief Arradondo has my full support.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.