A 5-year-old girl was shot in the foot Monday morning after several rounds were fired into the back of a north Minneapolis home.
Mom: 5-year-old girl hit by gunfire in N. Minneapolis home 'is tougher than her shooter'
Girl's aunt said, "I'm getting sick and tired of innocent children not being able to live and play like kids because of this violence."
August 12, 2019 at 9:45PM
The incident occurred about 6:35 a.m. at a duplex in the 2100 block of N. 4th Street, just north of where Broadway Avenue intersects with Interstate 94.
Police say no arrests have been made in connection with what emergency dispatch audio described as a drive-by shooting.
Officers responding to the scene tended to the girl before she was taken by ambulance to HCMC.
"The injuring of a little, innocent 5-year-old child is unconscionable," said police spokesman John Elder. "We hope the community will help us help them by providing information to us on the shooter and the circumstances behind the shooting."
The girl's mother said on Facebook that her daughter was recovering from surgery and added, "My baby is tougher than her shooter. ... Thanks for all the love and prayers y'all. Her angels held her close this morning."
A total of seven shots were fired, according to emergency dispatch audio, with one of them going through a lower-level window and hitting the girl.
Officers located bullet casings on the ground and one round lodged in a wall, the dispatch audio disclosed.
A woman who identified herself as an aunt to the girl lives in a different part of north Minneapolis and has been outside with her son during two drive-by shootings in recent months.
"As a mother I'm getting sick and tired of innocent children not being able to live and play like kids because of this violence," Sarah King said. "I've tried reaching out to the mayor's office and keep getting told he is in a meeting. Something has to end."
Frey's spokesman, Mychal Vlatkovich, said Monday afternoon that "our office is always willing to meet with constituents."
More broadly speaking, Vlatkovich added that "the Mayor believes that the city should be doing more to make all neighborhoods in Minneapolis safer, including by hiring more police officers."
Last month, Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said his department needs an additional 400 patrol officers by 2025, which would grow the force by 45%.
Frey confirmed his intention to seek funding for more officers, though he wouldn't commit to a specific figure, saying only that "there's a lot of numbers in between" 400 and zero.
Council President Lisa Bender replied that the city couldn't afford the cost per officer, nor the "settlements for police violence" that would potentially follow.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
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