Eden Prairie classes resume following Friday night shooting outside football game
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Classes resumed Monday in Eden Prairie following a shooting outside the Eden Prairie High School homecoming football game Friday night that left two people injured.
Police said the shooting was “gang-related,” without providing further information or explanation. There have been no reports of arrests; the investigation continues.
A 17-year-old remained hospitalized over the weekend with non-life-threatening injuries; an 18-year-old was discharged from the hospital. Both are from St. Paul and “are known to law enforcement,” Eden Prairie police said in a statement.
Authorities believe the shooting was targeted, and said that neither victim was a student at Eden Prairie or Minnetonka schools. The gunfire at about 8:40 p.m. prompted an evacuation of the stadium and the school grounds.
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Officials later canceled Saturday’s homecoming dance as a precaution. The football game is expected to be played Monday afternoon.
“We do not anticipate any further violence, but as a show of support and partnership from the Eden Prairie Police Department, there may be additional law enforcement presence near schools this week,” Josh Swanson, the district superintendent, said in a statement posted to social media on Sunday.
Swanson also decried “hateful messages spread online about entire communities based only on the ethnicities of those who perpetrated this act, and that is wrong.”
Police said the two people injured outside the game are of Somali descent. On social media, Minnesota Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer called Friday night’s shooting a “Somali gang crime,” but the police have not.
“Our Somali students, neighbors and community members are just as outraged by what happened as everyone else, and each person deserves to feel safe and welcome in our schools and community,” Swanson wrote.
