Woman shot and killed in Lowry Hill neighborhood ID'd

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office has identified the woman fatally shot in Lowry Hill on Friday morning.

The victim, 30-year-old Tanasha Brittanya Shurnene Austin, of St. Cloud, died from a gunshot wound to the chest, the office announced in a news release Sunday morning.

This is the 14th homicide in Minneapolis this year, according to the Star Tribune's database.

Police said an argument led up to the 7:40 a.m. shooting in the 1900 block of South Colfax, and a 911 caller said that a person was loaded into a vehicle and taken away.

At the scene, officers were told Austin sustained a life-threatening gunshot wound and was dropped off at Hennepin Healthcare. She died at the hospital.

On Saturday evening, a group gathered at the scene of the shooting to release blue balloons in Austin's honor. They lit candles and held a moment of silence. A woman sang the hymn "I Need Thee Every Hour" and the crowd shouted "We love you, Nasha!" as the balloons drifted to the sky.

"I'm deeply saddened by the [loss] of my big cousin Tanasha Austin!" wrote Araina Joy Julien of Brooklyn Park in a Facebook tribute. "You were taken way too soon!"

Candles at the memorial still were burning by noon Sunday when Lowry Hill resident Zach Morris arrived. Morris witnessed the shooting and called 911, and said he hasn't been able to sleep since.

Morris said he was outside smoking Friday morning after just getting off work when he saw a white Dodge with at least three people inside pull up outside the apartment. He then heard Austin threatening to call police and tell them everything about one of the men in the vehicle.

"It was scary. It transpired so quick," Morris said. "I was scared for her before the shot went off."

When Austin got out of the car, one shot was fired and Morris saw her stumble backward and fall flat onto her back on the sidewalk. He then watched the car's occupants struggle to get her back into the vehicle.

"As soon as we heard the [police] siren come that's when they finally got her in the car," Morris said, adding that the vehicle left just as police arrived.