One man is dead and two were fighting for their lives Saturday as Minneapolis police searched for suspects following an early-morning triple shooting at a southside homeless encampment.
According to police, officers responded to reports of automatic gunfire at the encampment near E. 21st Street and 15th Avenue S. shortly before 5 a.m. They arrived in the Ventura Village neighborhood south of downtown to find three victims with gunshot wounds.
The men were given aid and taken to HCMC, where one died. Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the other two remained in critical condition. The identities of the men, who were homeless, were not immediately released.
Investigators said they believe that an altercation occurred after three people approached the camp. One of the victims had a BB gun that resembled a real pistol, but it was unclear if that was a factor in the shooting, they said.
“Once again, tragedy has occurred at a homeless encampment and all three of the injured are known to police,” O’Hara said at a news conference.
“Residents in the area have been very frustrated. This is an ongoing issue with encampments and all of the activity that’s associated with it. As soon as one encampment is cleared, another one pops up somewhere else and crime in the area immediately rises.”
Citing department data, O’Hara said that around 13% of all Third Precinct crime, and 19% of the precinct’s gun violence, happens within 500 feet of encampments. He said he believed that the camp where the shooting occurred appeared after officials had closed a larger encampment by a Franklin Avenue overpass.
Paula Williams, who has lived in the area since the late 1970s, said she often greets youth from the encampment and that none has made her feel threatened. But Williams said drug use and sex trafficking have become an issue.
