Officials ID suspect, 2 killed in mass shooting at Minneapolis apartment complex
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What began as an apparent custody handoff of a child ended in a mass shooting Wednesday in Minneapolis that left three people dead, including the shooter, and several wounded, including police officers, state investigators said Thursday as they provided new details on what happened.
Calling it a case of domestic violence, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension superintendent Drew Evans identified Carlton Neal Johnson II, 35, as the shooter and said Johnson was killed by Minneapolis police as they pursued him to the 9th floor of the apartment building and exchanged gunfire with Johnson.
Three officers were injured, including two wounded by gunfire. Authorities said they are all expected to fully recover.
While the investigation continues, Evans told reporters the situation Wednesday began outside the Shoreline Plaza apartments, formerly known as Loring Towers, as a standard child custody exchange between parents. As they met outside the building, Johnson shot the mother of the child in the leg; the child escaped with people in the area and was not physically harmed, Evans said.
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After that, Johnson went back into the apartment building where he shot two employees of the complex on the first floor. Both survived but one has “critical” injuries, Evans added.
Johnson took the elevator to the ninth floor where he has an apartment and shot and killed two other people who were residents of the building.
Evans identified the victims who died as Dale Henry Spry, 63, and Muse A. Afrah, 61.
Officers responded after getting a 911 call just after 4:30 p.m. They entered the building and followed the sound of gunshots up the stairwell. They found Johnson and killed him during two exchanges of gunfire, Evans said.
The wounded officers are Joseph Michnowski, who has been with the department since 2021, and Yahye Ahmed, a Minneapolis officer since November 2024. Mayor Jacob Frey said Thursday afternoon that Ahmed has been released from the hospital.
Frey and Bill Peterson, the city’s interim police chief, praised the speed of the police response and the bravery of the officers who confronted Johnson.
Officials on Wednesday had said initially that those officers had to deal with a smoke-like “haze” as they encountered Johnson. Frey said Thursday that it was likely caused by an exploding fire extinguisher.
The mayor added that a police officer likely saved the life of the woman initially shot in the custody exchange, providing a tourniquet and getting her rushed to the hospital.
Suspect was known to police
Minneapolis police on Wednesday said Johnson was known to them.
Court documents show Johnson was facing eviction from his apartment for lease violations, including the alleged assault of a resident on March 23. On June 11, Johnson allegedly walked around the building brandishing a gun and “entered the management office and openly displayed the firearm” to building staff members, writes attorney Laurel Pugh.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office on Thursday afternoon said Minneapolis police responded to a June 25 call about Johnson “displaying a firearm to another individual” and that officers determined he had a legal permit to carry and didn’t take the gun out of his waistband.
Prosecutors later found “insufficient evidence” to charge Johnson, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said in a statement, adding that prosecutors also found “insufficient evidence” to proceed with an “extreme risk protection order” for the June 25 incident.
A trial on Johnson’s eviction suit had been scheduled for Sept. 11.
Asked about the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office conclusion that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to pursue an extreme risk protection order or charges on the gun display incident against Johnson, Peterson didn’t second-guess the prosecutors.
Johnson’s record prior to the recent incidents were largely driving violations and parking citations, he added.
“Based on the information we had, we were taking the right steps, I believe, to prevent something like this from happening,” he said of police referring charges, but he noted “hindsight is 20-20” and this was not of case of prosecutors dropping the ball.
Most residents can return to building
Peterson said the building used to have problems that brought the police but he said that in recent years it had stopped being a problem property.
During his time serving as inspector for the 1st Precinct, Peterson said that he worked with building management to clean up problems.
At the building Thursday, resident Deng Tutlem came by to see if he could get inside, after spending the night in a hotel across the street. He said he lived next door to the suspected gunman, and was home when the shooting started.
“We were just sitting, having a good time at home, and then we heard that pop, pop, pop, pop,” Tutlem said.
At one point he opened the door of his apartment to look outside, and he said a police officer yelled for him to close it.
“And then all of a sudden, they just came in and knocked and evacuated us,” Tutlem said. “We don’t know what is going on right now.”
Tutlem said he knew Johnson often carried a gun in the building, and had asked him before not to bring it near Tutlem’s apartment.
Frey told reporters Thursday afternoon that city officials were responding to help residents of the building and the neighborhood, including emotional support. He said all residents are back in the Shoreline Plaza except for those on the ninth floor.
Watch: BCA and Minneapolis provide updates on mass shooting in downtown apartment building
MPR News reporter Estelle Timar-Wilcox contributed to this report.
