Woman charged in mass shooting outside Minneapolis nightclub
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A 21-year-old woman has been charged in connection with a mass shooting that injured nine people outside the Reign Event Center in Minneapolis in July.
Prosecutors allege the shooting into a crowd of more than 100 people was in retaliation for an assault at another nightclub the previous evening. According to court documents, one of the shooting victims “was critically injured, and may be permanently paralyzed.”
The Minneapolis Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced Wednesday that officers and agents arrested Veronica Brown on Monday, in connection with the Reign shooting.
Brown is charged with drive-by shooting and second-degree assault. She’s due to make her initial court appearance on Thursday afternoon.
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“This was an act of extreme violence that injured numerous people and my thoughts are with everyone affected as they continue their recovery,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a news release. “We believe this was a retaliatory attack for a previous assault, and we are prepared to prosecute Ms. Brown to protect the community.”
Minneapolis police said the shooting investigation “remains open and active as investigators continue to pursue all possible leads.”
According to the criminal complaint filed against Brown on Wednesday:
Officers responding to the Reign shooting on July 19 obtained surveillance video showing that shots were fired from the passenger side of a black Infiniti with no front license plate. Investigators also recovered several live cartridges as well as cartridge casings and part of a firearm magazine. Four guns were fired during the shooting.
Investigators eventually identified the car and found the registered owner, who said she had sold the car to Brown on Facebook. Brown later told investigators she did not remember purchasing the vehicle.
“Officers also found video of the vehicle after the shooting and (Brown) is in the passenger seat, along with her boyfriend,” the complaint alleges.
Brown’s DNA was allegedly found in a mixture taken from the casings, cartridges and magazine found at the scene.
The complaint alleges that Brown’s boyfriend was the victim of an assault at another nightclub, Vanquish, the night before the Reign shooting. That earlier assault “was likely the motive for the shooting at Reign. Several of the victims at Reign were perpetrators of the assault at Vanquish.”
